


The Messtival

by I_Make_Arrows



Series: Rainbow Hair Clip [1]
Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Awkwardness, Carnival, Cuddling & Snuggling, F/F, First Dates, Fluff, Illustrations, Lumity, Misunderstandings, Teasing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:02:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 26,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27190801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_Make_Arrows/pseuds/I_Make_Arrows
Summary: A once a year event on the Boiling Isles has come again to shake things up – literally. While Eda does her best to introduce her sister to the life of the Bad Girl Coven, her apprentice has other plans. Luz wants to explore the Messtival and take in all that the Isles has to offer. Amity finally seizes her chance, and both of them share an evening that’s magical in every sense of the word.
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda
Series: Rainbow Hair Clip [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2065347
Comments: 199
Kudos: 891





	1. Loosen Up

### 

** Chapter 1: Loosen Up **

Little claws, quiet grumbling, and a soft, fuzzy weight trampling her chest were the first signs Luz received that today was going to be a bit different. Lifting her head, hair frazzled and a small line of drool connecting her to her pillow, she blinked bleary eyes as she looked at the small, dark shape lying on top of her. “King?” She glanced up at the window – there was barely any daylight. “What are you doing in here so early?” Automatically she reached out to the little demon, unfurling her limbs from the jumble they’d worked themselves into while she slept. She pulled him close, snuggling him like a teddy bear despite his short-lived objections.

“Ehhhh, Eda’s too excited about today.” King’s voice was wide-awake and not at all his groggy normal self – one thing Luz had learned quickly was that the only early-riser in the Owl House was Hooty. A muffled clatter through the walls from Eda’s room seemed to punctuate King’s point, and Luz looked up curiously. 

“Today?” Luz slowly sat up, rubbing her eyes. “What’s today?”

As if on cue the house rumbled back and forth for a few seconds, shaking objects loose from the walls and causing loud bangs and crashes to echo up the stairs. Eda’s snorting laughter followed it, accompanied by Lilith’s raised voice. 

“Ughhhh.” King pressed his face into her blanket, pressing his little paws to his ears. “The Messtival.”

Outside, a high-pitched voice called out, “Hey, did the ground just move or was that me? Hoot!”

* * *

“The Messtival?”

Sitting at the kitchen table fully dressed and wide-awake, Luz looked suspiciously at Eda as the older witch bustled about the room, shoving things into a big backpack that seemed to hungrily suck in objects larger than itself. A big, excited smile stretched the Owl Lady’s face.

“Yeah, the Messtival! Don’t you have something like it? Yeesh, the human world must be so boring.” She hesitated over two identical looking goblets, before shrugging and shoving them both in the backpack. “Oh you must be so excited, your first Messtival! It has to be my favourite holiday on the Isles!”

Luz hit the table with both fists, grinning. “Heck yeah I’m excited! My first Messtival!” She sprang to her feet, moving over to peer curiously into the backpack which shyly zipped itself back up until Eda prodded it. “But uhhh, what exactly is the Messtival?”

Eda paused, her face poking back up from the dislodged pile of debris she was rummaging through, human ‘relics’ poking out of her hair. “Wait, I didn’t tell you about the Messtival?” She smiled again. “Oh, then are you in for the best day ever! Okay okay, find your bag and pack it with as much stuff as possible, anything you want! Just nothing from my room…” She trailed off as she delved back into the pile, her legs wiggling in the air behind her and muffled words floating back out. “…so much opportunity… can’t believe humans… what is that smell?”

* * *

In the city of Bonesborough pandemonium had struck the streets, with witches, monsters, demons and more importantly _stuff_ cluttering every walkway, courtyard and street. Everyone was out and about today, all of them lugging a bag, sack or even a cart behind them, digging through the piles of items thrown haphazardly all over the place. Tiny Nose rifled through the debris of an armourer’s shop, emerging from the heap wearing a metal knight’s helmet over most of her body and yelling inarticulately. Principal Bump stroked his chin with a finger as he considered a fancy blue stole, comparing it to the one draped over his shoulders before swapping them and walking off with a satisfied expression. Even the merchants and swindlers were out and about – Tibbles himself snuck out of a pile clutching a yellowed scroll and chuckling to himself. 

Eda looked over it all eagerly, eyes bright with excitement as her mane of hair trailed in the wind behind her. She brought Owlbert down for a smooth landing near the edge of town. “I’m telling ya’ Luz, the Messtival is the place to be. Plentiful stuff to swap, plentiful marks to follow.” She stretched out the last word as she casually reached behind her and slipped something out of someone’s pocket as they walked past. “And best of all, no guards to spoil the good times! Yes sir, even old Belos knows when to let the pressure off every now and again, so they all stay around the Conformatorium, letting us have our fun.”

As she explained the ground shook violently again, the Isles vibrating and sending everyone stumbling, though a few of the older residents just shifted their balance and kept walking. A few roof tiles fell here and there, but most of the buildings seemed more than capable of weathering the jostling. A few of the prissier houses blinked their multiple eyes or gnashed their white-washed teeth. Luz could have sworn she saw a chimney sneeze in the distance. Objects flew out of houses and buildings, markets and stalls, even from hands into other hands, sparking more than a few fistfights. Watching it all, Eda snorted out a laugh. 

“Ya see, once a year the bones of the Isles shift slightly as they settle against the ocean floor. A teensy little adjustment for the Titan, but a bit more disruptive for us. This doesn’t really damage anything, all it does is shake things up a bit. Oooh, shiney!” She pounced on a sapphire bead rolling along the ground, feeding it into her hungry backpack. “It’s the best time of the year to make a change, out with the old and in with the new! Literally.” 

She began walking forwards, looking around at the chaos and the goodies up for grabs. She idly twirled her staff in her hand, poofing it away. “Sure, people guard their own stuff, but they also look out for anything that catches their eye.”

Luz bounced up and down, bright-eyed and so excited she was almost buzzing. _The Boiling Isles are amazing, I never know what’s going to happen next!_ “Oh, so it’s like a big swap meet!”

Eda cocked an eyebrow. “A big swap what now?”

“A swap meet! It’s a human thing, people bring all their old junk they want to get rid of and try to trade it for other people’s junk that they want!” She darted forwards, already digging into the closest heap, her legs scrabbling as she tunnelled deeper into it. 

Following along, Eda let out a hum. “Well, I guess humans aren’t as boring as I thought. Yeah, that’s pretty much it. Buuuuuuut….” She grinned darkly. Luz popped back out of the pile, a glowing rainbow clip in her hair and her bag one swap lighter. 

“Buuuuuut?” 

Eda leaned in, lowering her voice. “Not only is this the best ‘swap meet’ ever, it’s the biggest opportunity of the year for Eda the Owl Lady to show she’s still got the moves.” She held up her hands, palms facing forward, and wiggled her fingers. After a moment she closed her first, and when she reopened it Luz’s new hair clip was sitting on her palm.

The younger witch gasped, clutching at her head dramatically. Her clip was gone! “But – how? I was just wearing that and you didn’t even use magic! Did you distract me somehow?” She squinted her eyes, looking around suspiciously as Eda leant back and laughed, tossing her the clip.

“Not at all kiddo, just have to know the tricks of the trade, and no one knows them like I do. Rule number one, always watch the hands.” She pulled Luz out of the pile, dusting her off. “I’ll leave you to do some swapping, and I’ll catch up with you later. If you think the morning is good, once the sun starts setting it gets even better! All the best swaps have happened by then and most people have moved their good stuff indoors, but no one wants the good times to end yet. They started setting up rides and games and oh so tasty foods.” She looked into the distance, eyes shiny and unfocused. “Oh so very tasty.” She cleared her throat, looking back to Luz. “Before we knew it, the Messtival had a carnival too. Things go well into the night, and the Illusion coven usually finishes things off with a light show!”

Luz kept gasping higher and higher as Eda described the evening, bouncing up and down on her toes. “Oh my gosh oh my gosh that sounds amazing! Why didn’t you tell me about this!” She paced rapidly back and forth in front of Eda, still talking. “Oh wow, not only do I now know what cool stuff I can find – especially if it matches my new rainbow style,” she posed briefly, framing her hair clip, “but there’s games and rides as well? This will be amazing! I wonder if anyone I know will be out?”

Eda smiled at her infectious enthusiasm, ruffling her apprentice’s hair. “I don’t doubt it kid, everyone loves the Messtival.”

Luz paused, her smile slipping as a thought occurred to her. “Not that I’m not excited, but don’t we have to be… well, careful?” She lowered her voice, glancing around despite herself. “Emperor Belos has to be on the lookout for us.” She was surprised when Eda waved an unconcerned hand. 

“I wouldn’t worry about old Belos. Remember what he said when we escaped? He let me off as a warning to everyone else – don’t mess with him or you’ll lose your magic forever, or worse.” Her tone darkened, before she made a visible effort to cheer up again. “The good news is that after he’s cracked the whip like that he’s not going to be after us for a while. He’s shown the Isles that he’s the boss, captured the infamous Own Lady and then shown the mercy of the Titan by letting me go. So unless we do something particularly, um… property… destruction-y, we’re in the clear for a while.” The old witch let out a sigh, her smile dimming a bit. “And I don’t know about you, but I’m a bit destructioned out… for now.”

Impulsively Luz stepped forward, wrapping her arms around Eda in a tight hug that she easily reciprocated. “Me too.” They stood there a moment, before Luz pulled back, her eyes a bit brighter. “And don’t you worry, soon you’ll master glyphs, then use your awesome, long, witchy experience to get even better than me, and we can combine our knowledge to show everyone how great we can be!” She pumped an excited fist in the air.

Eda couldn’t help but let out a snort at that. Snails, the kid had grown on her. She must be going soft. “Sounds like a plan to me. Now-“ She was cut off at a clatter and a high pitched “Wyeh!” from behind her, turning curiously to look and immediately biting her lip to hide her laughter.

“I told you, it doesn’t work like that! My hair never worked like that! I have no idea how _hers_ works like that!”

“Told me?! You never told me anything! You just kept saying ‘Get off me!’ over and over!”

Approaching them was Lillith, her staff shrinking into nothingness, and a pained look of annoyance on her face. Tangled in her hair, upside down and hanging from two limbs was King, frowning fiercely.

“That’s all I needed to say! You shouldn’t – ouch! - just try and climb into a strange witch’s hair!” The former coven leader snapped at the little demon, stopping next to Eda. Why did she ever agree to this? Coming into Bonesborough at all was foolish, she only did it to stop Edalyn pestering her about getting up and about. _I suppose I have just been laying about the house_ , she thought, doing her best to untangle King.

He was having none of it. “But you’re not a strange witch! You’re Eda’s sister, you’re one of us now!” Lilith started, eyes wide, and turned her head to take in the creature tangled in her hair. After a long moment, he spoke up again. “HA! I said something cute, now you _can’t_ be mad at me!”

Taking pity on the both of them, Eda stepped forward and skilfully untangled King with an ease suggesting long practice. “Sorry little guy, but the days of Lily’s hair being cozy are long behind us. Hers was fluffier than mine once.” 

Keeping her distance Luz watched the trio for a moment, her eyes lingering over Lilith as the older witch winced and sputtered, King not making the untangling easy. She could still hear the angry, spiteful words, _‘Then why were you so easy to curse!?_ ’ She blinked, and put on a smile. “Well, I think I’m going to go check out the festival! I’ll catch up with you all later. Bye Eda, bye King!” She quickly ran off, moving backwards and waving before stumbling over a bucket and falling into another junk pile. “I’m okay!”

Lilith looked away as Luz moved off, uncomfortable. She hadn’t failed to notice the human pointedly not mentioning her and didn’t consider herself foolish enough to believe the distant behaviour was undeserved. 

Eda nudged her with an elbow. “Don’t worry about it Lily, she’ll come around.”

King nodded vigorously. “Yeah! Luz is super nice. I was a big jerk to her once, but after I apologised we worked together to sort it out and she completely forgave me.”

Lilith seemed unconvinced. “She does seem very… enthusiastic, but… what I did – to everyone, to you especially Edalyn-“ She broke off as Eda grabbed her shoulders.

“None of that.” She smiled confidently, their mismatched eyes meeting. “Luz doesn’t have a mean bone in her scrawny little body. Give her a bit of time, and this will all be in the past. Now!” She clasped Lilith to her side, squeezing her tightly. Flinging her other hand forward to gesture to the town she said, “Lily, what do you see before you?”

The older witch blinked. “Uhhhh, Bonesborough?”

“Psh, wrong answer! Come on Lily, think like the one true coven would think!”

Lilith shifted uncomfortably, remembering her long years in the Emperor’s Coven, before she realised what her sister meant. After catching her wearing her Bad Girl Coven shirt (“Stop laughing, I don’t have any other clothes Edalyn!”) she’d hardly let the matter drop. Trying to think like a… ‘bad girl’, Lilith looked again. “Witches moving about, all kinds of objects… up for grabs?” she finished hesitantly. 

Eda nodded enthusiastically. “Mostly right! What we have here…” Her voice lowered dramatically. “Is a lesson, waiting to be taught!”

Lilith raised an eyebrow. “A lesson? What do – oh no, no no no, you are _absolutely not_ -“

Eda kept talking right over the top of her. “Yes ma’am, what I’m going to do is teach you how to steal!”

King clambered up Eda’s dress and chimed in from her other shoulder. “You couldn’t ask for a better teacher! No one is more shifty than Eda! Why she’s downright suspicious!” The Owl Lady waved an embarrassed hand making a ‘pshaw’ sound. “But uhhh, one problem there. I know Belos has let you off the leash, but what about her?” He pointed a small claw at Lilith. “I don’t think he’s going to leave her be like you, and waaaaay too many people know her on sight. They’re probably already making wanted posters for the Owl Lady and the, uhhh…” He furrowed his brow. “Raven… Maiden. Huh, that’s pretty good!”

Eda pulled back, a finger to her chin. “Hmmm, the fuzzball has a point.”

“Hey! I… mostly resemble that.”

“What we need to get you is a disguise!” 

Lilith smiled. “Well, in that at least I can help out.” Waving her finger in a circle before her – the magical light dimmer than it had been since she was a child – a wave of blue light swept over her, altering her appearance. Her hair grew shorter, lighter, her face a little different, her stature shifting until she appeared to be an entirely different person. Leaning forward, she tapped a finger against each of their foreheads, allowing them to see through the illusion. “There. That should do it.” She let out a breath. “That’s about as much as I can handle at the moment, but it should be enough.”

With a fanged grin Eda sprang forward, pointing dramatically into the streets of Bonesborough. “Perfect! Now… let’s go stealing!” She stood there a moment, the wind waving her hair, before a voice called out around a corner.

“Wait, what did she just say?”

* * *

Luz moved happily amongst the crowd, humming to herself as she embraced the chaos. Already some new swaps had caught her eye – her rainbow clip had found a twin on the other side of her head, she’d found a jar that meowed when you opened it and best of all, a white pointed hat that bore more than a passing resemblance to the Good Witch Azura’s and was now her favourite accessory, carefully put into her satchel. She’d encountered a few friends along the way, speaking briefly to some students from Hexside that she shared a class or two with. She’d yet to see any of her closer friends and was keeping a keen eye out, looking so carefully that the tap on her shoulder caused her to cry out in alarm and spin around rapidly, hands raising into some futile karate chops. Seeing no one there she turned her head to look around, before once again being tapped on the shoulder. 

Spinning rapidly, she kept her hands raised. “Ha, not this time sucka’!” only to lower them sheepishly when she saw no one again. This time though she heard a quiet snickering, and a nearby pile of stuff shifted slightly. When she looked over towards it the snickering turned into full blown laughter, and a pair of figures emerged from the heap. A pair with matching green hair and matching smiles. The shorter of the duo drew a circle with her finger, and a translucent hand materialised over Luz’s shoulder, tapping it gently before poofing away.

“Sorry Luz,” said Emira, grinning unrepentantly as she brushed loose junk off her clothes. “But we couldn’t resist.”

Her twin Edric nodded, still laughing. “How are you enjoying the Messtival? This is your first one right?”

Luz moved over to them as they stepped out of the pile, brushing a few things off themselves. “It’s great! I never thought the Isles would have something like this, but they just keep surprising me! What do you think?” She raised her hands to her new clips, tapping them to turn the glow on and off. “Stylish, or _super_ stylish?”

Edric gave a double thumbs up, while Emira seemed to hesitate. “Um, they’re not my thing but you make them work Luz!” 

“Anything in particular you’re looking for?” asked Edric.

“Or any _one_?” smiled Emira.

Luz shrugged. “No, not really. I only just found out that this is actually a thing, didn’t get my shopping list ready.” She jokingly clicked her fingers, feigning disappointment. “What brings you two here?”

In an eerie moment of twin synchronicity, they both threw their arms wide. “The chaos of course!” they chorused.

“Every year everyone turns out, ready to swap and steal and fight,” said Emira.

“And every year we come along to… take part in the festivities,” said Edric.

“It’s really not our fault.”

“Yeah, we can’t resist! Can you blame us?”

“After all…”

They spoke together again. “We’re master illusionists!”

Luz watched, starry-eyed as they did their speech, hands held and up and clenched in excitement. “Oh! Oh! What illusions do you do?”

Edric ‘hmm’ed for a moment, before looking over at a broad plaza and grinning. Piles of mess ringed the area, with all manner of folk digging through them. After tracing a circle, a brightly glowing, golden staff appeared on the ground in the middle of the plaza, a metallic _ting_ sound accompanying it. There was a moment’s delay as all eyes turned towards it, the silence broken by one shout of “ _It’s mine!_ ” before the crowd surged forward, diving on the object and causing a big commotion, the _poof_ of its disappearance lost in the hubbub. Clutching each other laughing, Ed and Em lead Luz away from the scene of the crime, towards the entrance of a shop.

Grinning widely along with them, Luz said “Okay, _now_ I get it. This is definitely your kind of day.” _Trust these two to find the most chaotic place they can, then to stir the pot a little more._

The twins nodded along, before Emira went on. “Besides, chaos isn’t the only reason we’re out and about. We’d never miss a chance to hang out with our little Mittens.”

Luz gasped, her heart pumping a bit faster. “Amity is here?”

As if on cue the doorbell for the shop tinkled, the swinging door revealing papers and ink strewn all over the floor and out the door slightly. A young witch stepped gently around the mess, clutching a collection of books, ink and quills to her chest. 

Raising his voice, Edric called out. “Hey Mittens! Look who we found!”

An annoyed expression on her face Amity looked up to berate him, before catching sight of Luz. Since she had rescued Eda she’d not yet returned to Hexside and they’d only spoken a few times. Her thoughts had been revolving around the human for weeks now, yet suddenly she could think of nothing to say. “Luz! You’re… here!” Her face grew warm as she could feel her nerves jitter, her pulse beginning to race. Unaware, she stepped on to a discarded ink pot, skidding over it slightly before she recovered, arms waving. “I didn’t… I didn’t think you’d be here! Or, well, I didn’t know you’d be here, but I didn’t know you wouldn’t be here either!” She made a physical effort to clamp her mouth shut, pointed ears twitching, her mind screaming at her to _Just shut up Amity, stop digging deeper!_ Edric was biting his lip, holding in his mirth. 

With her usual utter lack of restraint, Luz dashed over, moving smoothly around any of the discarded obstacles. “Amity! I’m so happy to see you!” She threw both her arms around the taller witch and squeezed, forcing a gasp out of her as she lifted her friend slightly off the ground for the biggest hug she could. She set her down, both a little red in the face. “I’m so glad to see you’re okay! No more Grudgby leg cast! How are you? How have you been? Is class weird with no humans again? Oh! Did the cafeteria take my suggestion of serving a non-carnivorous cake?” She was so happy to see Amity again!

The youngest Blight weathered the barrage, smiling nervously, her blush deepening at the close contact. _Come on Amity, you’ve gone over this again and again. Just stay calm, you can do this! Luz is your friend!_ Luz had stepped back, but kept her hands on Amity’s shoulders. That contact, those points of warmth! _But… she’s Luz. And you think about her so – NO! Focus!_ She cleared her throat gently. “I’m fine! I’m glad you’re looking okay. I don’t know about the cake, but there’s no doubt that Hexside is quieter without you around. It’s just… not as nice.” She blinked. “I mean, it’s not as pretty! I mean… Hexside is a pretty school! It’s a nice school! Yes, Amity likes going there!”

Luz, bless her, just smiled right back. “Well don’t you worry, I’ll be back there before you know it!” 

Off to the side Emira watched in disbelief. Always a bit more socially savvy than her sister, she simply couldn’t believe that Luz wasn’t picking up on all the signs. _Oh Titan, are all humans that oblivious or is it just Luz?_

Luz kept on talking, going on about the Messtival. “This is really an amazing day, I can’t imagine anything like this happening in the human world. I mean, we have something kinda the same but nowhere near as fun, and magic makes pretty much everything better. I just want to keep looking at everything! Are you staying around?”

Amity nodded frantically, head whipping up and down. “Yes! Definitely around! Going to stay around all day actually!” She subtly tapped a pink slip of paper covered with chores and entitled “Home to-do list” further into one of her notebooks. 

“Oh, awesome!” Luz smiled, leaning in to give her another quick hug. She’d always been a very tactile person, but had she been hugging Amity more frequently recently? The young Blight hoped it wasn’t just her hopeful imagination. For her part, Luz just liked holding Amity. “I’m really excited to see what it’s like after sunset, Eda said the carnival part was really fun.”

Amity, frozen at the contact, looked over as she heard a slight cough. Emira caught her eye and the older witch nodded, smiling encouragingly at her. Edric didn’t miss this and looked back and forth between his sisters shrewdly. 

“Wait, what did you just-“ he began to say before Emira poked him in the ribs, actually looking angry. 

“Shut up!” she hissed, turning him to face away as they retreated a few steps. She spoke quickly, almost whispering as she gave the younger girls some space.

As Luz stepped back Amity clenched her eyes shut, feeling like steam was going to shoot from her ears. Mustering her courage she took a deep breath and finally blurted out, “LuzIhavesomethingtoaskyou!”

Quirking an eyebrow, Luz cocked her head to the side. “Uhhh, Amity? You might have to say that again a bit slower? Idon’tspeaksuperfastquicktalk!” She shot out the last few words with a laugh.

Amity, smiling painfully, stood frozen in place. _Why? Why does she not get it? HOW does she not get it!?_ Unable to stand it she reached into a notebook and pulled out a folded piece of pink paper, shooting out her hand quickly to offer it to Luz.

“Oh, is this for me?” Luz took it, smiling happily. “Don’t tell anyone, but I never really got to actually read notes in class before, I always had to pass them along to other people. It’s nice to actually get one!”

Amity blinked, her ears twitching again. _Oh Titan that’s adorable_.

“Um, Amity? Why’d you give me a to-do list?”

A moment passed.

 _AAAAAAAHHHHH WHYYYYYY!?_ “Sorry, sorry, I meant this one!”

“Oh, okay!”

Unfolding the piece of paper, Luz saw a simple question, written in what was unmistakably Amity’s neat, flowing handwriting.

_‘Luz,_

_Will you come to the Messtival tonight with me?_

_Amity’_

__

Luz blinked, her eyes going wide. She gasped softly, taking a moment to actually comprehend what she’d just read. “Amity… you…” She didn’t look up from the note and missed the painfully vulnerable expression of hope on Amity’s face. “You want to go together tonight?” She slowly raised her gaze, Amity quickly trying to put a mask of casual indifference on with only minor success. “To all the rides, and games and stuff?” Her eyes were misty. “With… _me_?”

_Oh… She doesn’t want to. Why were you so stupid Amity, why did you even bother? Of course Luz doesn’t-_

“That sounds AMAZING!”

The last, shouted word startled Amity so badly she jumped, barely catching herself. “R-really?”

Luz quickly helped her balance. “Of course! You’re my best friend, I’d love to go with you! Oh wow, it’ll be so fun! We can hang out all night, and play so many games! Ohhhh, I’m gonna eat so much! I’m gonna get all fat and be all ‘eeuuurrghh’,” she rambled, pulling a face at the last.

Amity however, had tuned out from the phrase ‘best friend’. _I can’t believe it, I’m her best friend? That’s amazing! I never thought – I always figured it’d be Willow or Gus, or even the Owl Lady or the little demon! Wait – does she… does she know what I meant? Oh Titan, does she think this is for two friends or…?_

“Amity? Hello, Luz to Amity!”

“YES I AM HERE.” 

Luz started. “Woah! I broke through! I was asking when you wanted to meet up, and where? I have to go and get ready!”

 _Get ready? What does she mean?!_ “Oh! Ummm, how about sunset, just outside the parchment store?” She gestured to the one behind her, smiling nervously, still flushed red.

Luz leant in for a final hug. “Awesome, it’s a date! I’m gonna go find Eda, I’ll see you then!”

Barely remembering to say goodbye, Luz’s words kept rolling around Amity’s head, ‘it’s a date!’, ‘it’s a date!’, ‘it’s a date!’ Very quietly screaming, she thought to herself _IS IT?!_

* * *

Edalyn Clawthorne paced back and forth in front of her disguised sister, back straight, grin in place, and a little demon sitting on her head, nodding along as she spoke.

“Now, my dear baby sister-“

“I’m two years older than you!”

Eda wagged a finger. “Ah ah! In years of life you are, but not in years of _master thievery_. You really are a baby, and it’s time for big sister Eda to teach you everything she knows!”

Moving off Eda lead Lilith through some of the main streets of the town, looking every which way at the people passing by and the piles of stuff just begging someone to take it, absently adjusting her balance as another tremor hit, King windmilling his arms with a “Wyeh!” to stay in place. 

“There’s a few different methods I could teach you,” she said, continuing her lesson. “The snatch and grab, that’s a classic, but it will blow our fun too quickly. The hex and hustle, one of my personal favourites, but maybe a bit too advanced for you to start with.” A cheerful whistling made her ears twitch, and she turned to the source, grinning widely. A tall, fat, red demon with 6 bulging eyes walked by on two stumpy legs, arms swinging widely and whistling a jaunty tune as he moved along. The many, many pockets of his black coat were bulging, shining, _clinking_ with pretty things. “Oho, this is perfect!” She automatically adjusted her path to follow along behind him, dragging Lilith in her wake. “The best way for you to start. A classic pickpocket of an oblivious mark!”

Lilith sputtered a bit. “But-but Edalyn! Are you seriously asking me to _steal_ from him? Not only is that wrong, I’ll almost certainly be caught!”

Roundly ignoring the first comment about morality, Eda snorted. “Pshaw, it’ll be easy! Not only will you have me slinking along with you to help, but he’ll be totally distracted! Look at him walking along, barely even paying any attention to his surroundings! Well, I’ve got just the thing for that.” She casually reached up and plucked King from her head. “A perfect, cute, little distraction.”

Alarm bells blaring in his head, King’s little limbs started pumping furiously. “Oh no, no way! I am not getting dragged into another one of your plans Eda! We are not doing the candy caper!”

Eda’s grin widened. “Oh King, you _know_ we’re doing the candy caper.”

“Nuh-uh, not going to happen!” He crossed his arms firmly, looking dismissively away.

Lilith glanced back and forth between them. “And what exactly is the candy caper?”

“It’s dumb!”

“No it’s not, you’re just upset because of how cute it makes you look,” said Eda, smooshing her cheek up against King’s. “The candy caper is the single simplest, most effective strategy I’ve ever come up with. I’m just glad I enchanted the hat years ago.”

King groaned and put his head in his hands. “Ohhh, not the hat!”

Eda reached into her hair, rummaging around for a moment before pulling out a small, white sailor’s hat, sized perfectly for King’s head. Over his protests she fit it snugly over his horns, before tapping it with a finger. The headwear glowed for a moment, before with a puff of smoke King was wearing a small, neat sailor suit, capped with curly, golden locks of hair spilling out of his hat. To complete the look, Eda put the finishing touch in his hand – a small lollipop.

Pushing out of her grip, King jumped to the ground, glaring up at her. “I am absolutely not going along with this!”

Eda raised an eyebrow. “Oh really?” Reaching into her hair, she pulled out a much larger, rainbow lollipop.

King’s eyes widened, growing sparkly. “Okay, I _might_ go along with this.”

* * *

“Mister! Mister!” Tail flopping back and forth from his rapid little steps, King came running up to the fat red demon, enormous lollipop clutched in his paw. His eyes were masterfully watery, his lip quivering like an artist. “Please, ya gotta help me!”

Pausing, the demon bent over slightly, smiling down at the cute little distraction. “Well little one, what’s the problem?” His voice was very deep and gravelly. He never noticed the two slim shapes creeping from alley to alley behind him, slowly approaching.

They slid from shadow to shadow, one shape moving naturally, fluidly, the other following it with more jerky, uncomfortable movements. The Clawthorne sisters approached in tandem, Eda’s expertise making them nigh invisible to the crowds around them as they closed in on their mark. Lilith found herself following the younger witch, stepping where she stepped and pausing when she paused.

King shuffled back and forth, occasionally pausing to take a decadent taste of his treat. “I’m, uhhh, lost! Yes sir, as lost as I can get! What city is this? This is the, uh, Freezing Isles, right?”

Stealthily moving closer, Eda whispered instructions to Lilith. “Remember, choose once, feather touch, and back away once you’ve got something shiny!” Her voice quivered with excitement, finally convincing her prim and proper sister to, as she put it, ‘sink to her level’. 

Lilith frowned in concentration, trying to follow Eda’s lead and casually sidle up behind the big demon, nothing to see here. Normally she wouldn’t have even entertained the idea, but… well, things weren’t normal anymore. She wasn’t sure what normal even _was_ anymore, but she did know she wanted to spend time with her sister. If that involved some petty theft, she could live with it. 

With Eda standing watchful guard next to her, her hands dipped into one of his many pockets, closing around something metallic before sliding back out, quick as a whip, smooth as an Acid Seal. All those years of delicate casting resulted in some pretty impressive dexterity, and she couldn’t help a smile from blooming when she saw Eda’s proud grin.

The moment was shattered when King’s yammering voice reached them again. “Yeah, she’s around here somewhere mister! Thanks for helping find my grandma, just look for the greyest hair you can see!”

Jaw dropping, Eda turned to peer around the demon’s bulk at King, fuming at the smug little smirk he shot her – and after she gave him a giant lollipop that she found! Somewhere. Maybe Hooty found it. _Whatever, unimportant_. She started towards him, fists clenched, before Lilith grabbed her wrist and gave her a wry look. Silently letting out a breath, she promised to contain her vengeance until later and stepped smoothly around the demon, a worried smile back in place.

“There you are! Honestly, running off like that, you need to be more careful…” Her smile grew strained. “…grandson.”

Unaware of his future doom, King smiled blissfully and ran over to hug her leg. “Oh thank goodness, grandma is here! Thanks mister, everything is okay now!”

The demon, a little bemused, rubbed at his head and shrugged. “Okay, you be careful now. Have a good day, miss.” He nodded at Eda and moved off, back to carefree whistling after a few steps. The trio quickly moved off, dodging a shifting pile from another tremor to take cover behind some crates in an alley.

King grumbled, settling down on the ground. “You know, you’re lucky that this thing is delicious. It’s hard work for a ferocious king of demons like myself to be so perfectly cute. I can do it of course, but it goes against my nature!”

Forestalling a tirade from her sister at the prissy little demon, Lilith reached into her pocket and produced her acquisition – a small golden plaque that read ‘#1 Pixie Catcher’ above a small logo from the Catchers Coven. “There, I am officially a thief and a criminal for an entirely new reason now. Happy, Edalyn?”

Cackling with glee, Eda swept forward and wrapped her sister up in a hug, pulling back to examine her catch. “Oh, very nice, very nice indeed! They grow up so fast!” She feigned wiping away a tear. “And on your first try! You’re a natural, you have the old Clawthorne touch!”

Lilith let out a pained sigh, putting her head in her hand. “You’re going to have me go and try him again now aren’t you?”

“What?” The Owl Lady looked surprised. “Of course not! I never steal from the same mark more than three times. I may be a thief, but that’s just rude.”

Lilith blinked. “Wait. Three times?”

Grinning broadly, Eda flourished both hands, revealing a small trinket in each of them, glittering in the light. “You’re not bad for a newbie Lily, but you have a loooong way to go to catch up to the master. Now, as for you!” She rounded on King.

As the pair bickered next to her, Lilith’s gaze moved from her trinket to both of her sister’s. As her fist slowly closed around the plaque, a spark of competitiveness flicked inside her, stoking the long standing, sisterly bond of competition between the pair of them. Edalyn was as powerful or more, despite being younger. Edalyn was the star grudgby player. Well, not this time! 

She slowly rose to her feet, King and Eda basically wrestling with each other to one side, still squabbling. “That was fun Edalyn!” Both of them paused, looking up in surprise. Lilith’s eyes gleamed with unleashed competitiveness. “Shall we try again?”

* * *

Pacing restlessly back and forth in front of the parchment store, Amity couldn’t stop herself from glancing towards the setting sun over and over. _Where is she? Did she forget? Did she not want to come? Ahhhh this was a terrible idea! Why, Amity? Why!?_

After talking with Luz earlier she’d spent an airy few minutes walking aimlessly with her siblings, feeling in turns weightless and terrified. For once, their banter and teasing had actually been soothing. Well, almost soothing. Edric had still pushed a bit far with some of his quips. After the few times that a distraught Amity had quietly knocked on her sister’s door with no one else to talk to, Emira had taken pity on the panicking disaster and redirected the worst of their brother’s taunts, effortlessly distracting him with gullible townsfolk and teasing. 

As they had explored wherever the twins’ feet took them, Amity’s top student brain rambled a mile a minute, unable to stop itself from overanalysing everything. _I can’t believe it. It’s really happening, Luz agreed to go out with me! And she seemed happy to do it!_ She blinked. _Oh Titan what have I done, Luz is going out with me! Just the two of us! Alone! What do I say?! I can barely get two words out around her, without getting all weird!_ Her face steadily grew more and more flushed, the tips of her ears burning. _It doesn’t matter! This is going to be amazing! How long have you wanted to have a romantic date, Amity? Now you’ve got one, with the cutest girl on the Isles! At the Messtival of all things, a place practically built for first dates! What if she wants to hold hands!!_ Barely avoiding walking into a wall or tripping over a pile of junk, Amity blindly followed the sound of her sibling’s bickering. _Oh Titan, what if she wants to hold hands? What if she feels how sweaty yours is? How nervous you are? She’s never nervous about ANYTHING! Even Grom she handled so well, and the way she danced, how she held me… What if she wants to… to hold me again?_ She held a hand to her mouth, swallowing nervously. _What if she… wants to kiss me?_

When Edric and Emira finally had their fill, they headed home to Blight Manor. The older witches now sported matching dark glasses with purple lines striping across the front, apparently an artefact of the human realm. They kept posing and asking how cool they looked, generally being pains in the bile sac. Edric had taken a shine to them to tease Amity about Luz, and Emira had gleefully joined in this time.

She’d agreed to help out her younger sister, but not _too_ much.

When she’d finally found herself safely back in her bedroom she closed the door behind her and leant back against it, letting out a long, slow breath. She tottered over to the bed, her bag sliding off her shoulder to the ground, and gently, carefully laid herself face down, head in her pillow. After taking in a long, deep breath, she screamed loudly into it, flailing around for a moment. With that behind her she remained there for a few moments, letting her poor, frazzled brain simmer down. Eventually she stood and moved over to her closet for the next arduous decision – what to wear?

Outfit after outfit was selected, poured over with a critical eye and thrown on to the bed. _Too colourful. Too dark. Too short. Too long. Too fancy. Not fancy enough!_ Even with the depth of her closet, before too long her grasping fingers found nothing left to grasp, and she turned to behold the clothes heap that her room had become, every single outfit systematically selected, regarded and discarded. 

For a moment the uncertainty of the day, her twisting emotions, the pure, crushing weight of her fear and confusion came crashing down on her and she collapsed back against her wardrobe, sliding to the ground. _Nothing I have is good enough for her. I’m… not good enough for her. This was such a bad idea… I should just tell her the whole thing is off._ Her stomach twisted at the thought. Was that relief or bitter disappointment? It was honestly hard to tell, her whole body seemed to be rebelling against her no matter what choice she made. Angrily, she scrubbed at her face, wiping away hot, confused tears. _This is supposed to be so happy, so easy. This is what happens in every book! You ask the girl out, she says yes, you meet up and the night is magical! That’s how it’s **supposed** to be!_

She climbed to her feet, looking around at all her clothes almost angrily now, before closing her eyes and taking a couple of long, slow, deep breaths. In her head she could picture Emira, the older witch leaning forward to place a hand on her shoulder, and her voice speaking softly. _You overthink everything Mittens, this most of all. It’s cute, it shows how much you care about it. But it’s not helping you right now. Just take a couple of deep breaths and force yourself to stop thinking for a second, then try again._

Slowly opening her eyes, she could feel her racing heart settle, just a little bit. Her panic faded, becoming less pressing. She gave her clothes another look with fresh eyes, and remembered why she was doing this. _This is for Luz. All you want to do is look nice for her, and let her know this is important to you. She won’t mind, she’s… she’s Luz._ The thought brought a little shy smile to her face. _She’d be happy to see you if you showed up in your Hexside uniform._

With that thought in mind she forced herself to, as Emira put it, stop thinking. She was going to go on a date with Luz. Luz, who was nice and caring and was probably the last person to mind what someone looked like. _Stop. Overthinking. Amity._

Refreshed, she dove through her wardrobe again, this time quickly picking out something that- well, it wasn’t perfect, but that felt kind of right. Hair up like usual, she decided on a sleeveless black dress with little, red dragon-fly patterns all over it. Her favourite heeled, black shoes with the golden buckles completed the look, and she decided to pack a nice, gemstone necklace in her bag, in case she felt like it later. 

She stepped out of her room, nervous but excited, and ran straight into Edric and Emira, lounging in the hallway like it was pure coincidence and not at all because Amity had to go past them. The pair immediately smirked at her as she went to step past them, nervously playing with the strap of her bag.

“Well, you have fun out there tonight Mittens,” said Ed with an exaggerated wink. Standing next to him, Emira seemed to be struggling not to say anything.

Huffing out an annoyed sigh, but unable to stop a small smile, Amity conceded, “Just say it Emira.”

“But not too much fun!” the older witch blurted out, unable to help herself. Feeling oddly relieved at the twin’s ribbing, she went on past them and out the door, leaving their snickering behind her. 

Now standing in front of the parchment store, she cursed her punctuality. All that this free time gave her was more opportunity to second-guess herself. _What if my clothes are wrong? What if she doesn’t like the way I look? What if she just doesn’t like… me? I can’t do this. I have to go home. I just…_ She screwed her eyes shut, clenching her fists. _I want this to go well so, so badly!_

“Amityyyyyy!”

Eyes flying open, the young witch spun in the direction of the voice. Running towards her waving an arm over her head was Luz, beaming brightly and right on time. 

* * *

After saying goodbye to Amity, Luz dashed off into the pandemonium of the Messtival, a big smile on her face. Oh, tonight was going to be amazing! Out with her best friend, enjoying the sights and sounds of an evening of Bonesborough! Everyone seemed to be having such a good time, the occasional duel over a shiney notwithstanding, she couldn’t wait to see what the actual carnival tonight was going to be like! _I wonder if it will be anything like that last carnival that came to town? Hopefully with less shrinking. Or maybe closer to carnivals at home?_ The thought lowered her spirits a little – she was still processing the loss of the portal to Earth, and it was a pretty terrifying thought that she might never see her mother again. Still, there was hope. After they’d gotten home and explained everything Eda had drawn her into a comforting hug and left her with a confident “leave it with me, kid,” drawing a smile from the distraught girl. The Owl Lady had been a bit preoccupied with the loss of her magic and reuniting with her sister, but Luz had faith in her abilities. Eda would figure something out.

Slowing down a little, Luz panned her gaze back and forth, scanning for a grey mane of hair, or a little bonehead, or even – ugh – a long, black dress. Back and forth she went through the streets, steadily growing more puzzled. Eda liked to keep a low profile sometimes, but on a day like this? With no guards? It was strange not to be able to come across her. At one point she thought she heard the distinctive snorting laughter, maybe even a little snigger from King, but after dashing to the alley she figured it came from there was no such luck.

After a little while Luz gave up, simply shrugging to herself and deciding to walk. Flying on Owlbert would definitely cut down on the travel time, but it wasn’t like the Owl House was a daunting distance away, just enough to give her some time to think. Keeping up a brisk pace, Luz’s feet directed her automatically on the best path to the Owl House while her mind wandered. She understood why Eda got so excited as so far the Messtival had been an amazing day. Seeing new and interesting sights, taking in more of the endless weirdness of Bonesborough, even seeing all kinds of wacky magical items strewn all about the place. Idly she wished that she’d had a bit more time to check it out and talk with some friends, but remembering what awaited her tonight banished those thoughts and made her smile bloom anew. Unable to contain her energy, she quickened her stride into a light jog, satchel bouncing with each step.

 _Oh man, I’m so excited to spend tonight with Amity! We’ve barely had any time to catch up after everything that’s happened, it’ll be nice to just unwind and… be with her._ The thought brought a faint blush to her cheeks. Hanging out with Amity was always so… so… She wasn’t even sure, but it was amazing, whatever it was. _I wonder how long we’ll be there? Hmmm, should I pack anything special? Should I dress up at all?_ She looked down at herself, in her favourite cat hoodie. _Maybe nothing fancy, but definitely a change for tonight I think. I wonder what Amity will wear?_ She snorted aloud. _Probably something super perfect that’s fancy and casual at the same time, that she makes look super pretty._

Wrapped up in her own thoughts Luz barely noticed the time passing and soon she stood before the Owl House. Hooty broke her out of her reverie by zooming in front of her, giving her a suspicious look. “Hey there _Luz._ So what are _you_ doing, _hmmm_?”

“Oh, hey Hooty! Sorry, was kind of lost in my own thoughts there. I’m going to the Messtival tonight, so I came home to get changed!” Looking past the house demon, she noticed that he was extended quite far from the door at the moment, meeting her halfway across the clearing before the house. The front door was open and just like every other building on the Isles, a pile of stuff had spilled out the front door. Unlike most other buildings though, this one had a house demon wrapped in coils protectively around it.

“A likely story, hoot hoot! Admit it, you came to trade for my precious garbage while my guard was down didn’t you? Didn’t you!” Hooty inched forward as he spoke, until his head was bonked against Luz’s. 

“Woah, geez Hooty, remember what we said about personal space!” Luz stepped back, fending him off.

“Well just you remember!” As Hooty kept speaking, the extended coils of his body wrapped around the pile of junk slowly slithered inside the house, dragging it along the ground while he maintained eye contact. “This is _my_ garbage. Hoot. Hoot.” Squinting suspiciously at her again, Hooty slowly slithered back to the door, piling things back inside.

Luz blinked, not really certain what to say to that. _Hooty, I LIVE here. I could have just taken anything whenever- I could have for weeks, does he not-? Eh, whatever._ Shrugging and moving on, Luz went inside, ignoring the sight of Hooty gleefully rolling around in the trash in the living room. She dashed into her room, carefully putting down her satchel of new swaps for the day and began digging through her clothes. Grinning at some of her choices, she quickly found everything she needed. Almost everything. She looked at the choices draped over her arm, hmming aloud as she tapped a finger on her chin. “It still needs something…” 

A flash of purple caught her eye from across the hall, where a pile of some of Eda’s latest human garbage had spilled out of its room. Poking out from the depths was a slip of purple fabric, instantly drawing her eye. “Oooooh!” She stepped over to it, carefully extracting it, and – yes! “Oh yeah, this is perfect!” She pumped her fist, before taking the outfit and dashing into the bathroom. 

A short while later she emerged, a big confident smile in place and a new outfit to match. She’d decided to stick with her regular shoes and shorts, but had swapped out her dark leggings for bright, rainbow-banded ones, standing out loudly. Her hoodie was gone, but in its place was her newest find – a perfectly-fitting purple t-shirt with a picture of two otters holding hands, and the words “Otterly Adorable!” underneath. The O’s were _hearts_! It was _perfect_!

Stepping back into her room, she stood in front of her mirror, twisting this way and that. Something was still not quite right… _Shoes, check. Shorts, check. Leggings? Oh yeah, that’s a big check! Shirt, check. Hair…?_ Frowning, she ran a hand through her hair, pondering her options, before a glow from her satchel caught her eye. 

Scant minutes later she ran outside, tossing a “Bye Hooty!” over her shoulder as she dashed off towards Bonesborough, a big grin on her face and her hair carefully done up with a glowing, rainbow clip on each side. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Messtival is finally here!
> 
> Whether you've found this on AO3 or followed across from Reddit, welcome and thank you for reading. Before anything else, I want to express how happy and grateful I am that Raspbi agreed to collaborate on this project. It would not be the same without their wonderful artistic talents bringing it to life.
> 
> The Messtival is a story in three parts. The story is written up and ready to go and at present we are looking at a schedule of Sunday releases as the last art pieces are finalised. I can tell you right now that there will be two illustrations per chapter, and that the only rhyme or reason that went into selecting them was that I thought they'd look the nicest. 
> 
> Please don't hesitate to reach out or contact me if you have any questions or comments. The Owl House has drawn me out of a decade long writing break, and this show has utterly captured my imagination.
> 
> A final thank you to the beta readers (you know who you are) who helped ensure the quality of my writing.


	2. Mistaken Intentions

** Chapter 2: Mistaken Intentions **

Panting slightly, Luz caught her breath next to Amity. “Whew, sorry! I’m not late am I? I’ve gotten so used to flying with Owlbert, I kinda forgot how long it takes to walk here from home.”

Amity smiled, tucking a strand of stray hair behind her twitching ear. _Stupid ears!_ “No, you’re right on time actually.” _Say something about how cute she looks!_ “You, um…” She trailed off, clearing her throat softly as Luz straightened up.

“Wow, you look amazing Amity! I can’t believe you’ve never worn that dress before, it looks so pretty!” Luz stepped up next to her, gently touching a shoulder strap with her finger, feeling the fabric. “Ooooh, so soft as well!” Amity’s face flared bright red at the closeness, the contact, but Luz went on obliviously. “Oh, oh, does it do the swishy thing?”

Amity blinked. “The swishy thing?”

Luz nodded excitedly. “Yeah, you know, the swishy thing!” Miming grabbing at a skirt, Luz twisted her body left and right. “Swish swish! Try it out!”

Grinning shyly, Amity took a step back and spun slightly each way, causing the hem of the dress to rise up a little, the pleats swishing back and forth. Luz clapped and laughed, “Spin for me Blight!”

Unable to hold in a giggle, Amity did a full spin, balancing on one leg and pushing off with the other, ears wiggling. She came to a stop, wobbling slightly, and Luz reached out to steady her, both of them leaning against each other as they laughed. Amity looked up into Luz’s face, not realising just how close they were standing until right now, and felt a surge of confidence. “You look really good Luz.” Her eyes shifted away, head ducking bashfully. “Bright colours suit you. You look, um… really pretty.” She almost whispered the last words and was so caught up in forcing them out that she missed the shy, happy look on Luz’s face.

“Did you see the best part?” The only human on the Isles took a step back, stretching out her shirt to show off the picture and words.

Amity stared at it for a moment, not having previously read it, before she clapped a hand to her mouth and let out an undignified snort. “Oh my gosh, that’s the most… the most _Luz_ thing you’ve worn since that frilly skirt for Grom!”

“Ohooo!” Luz got a knowing look on her face. “You liked my frilly skirt huh?” Amity flushed deeply at being called out on it as she jerkily nodded. “Ha, I knew you had good fashion sense!”

The pair stood there for a moment as their laughter died down, looking at each other unsure how to proceed. Amity could feel her heart thudding faster and faster and even Luz swallowed a bit nervously, never having had a friend quite like Amity. Remembering Emira’s advice – _Stop overthinking!_ – Amity took a deep breath. “So Luz… do you want to go check everything out?” _Including me?_

Luz pumped a fist. “Heck yeah I do! I want to see everything the Messtival has to offer!” She stepped forward extravagantly, chivalrously offering her arm. “Would you care to join me, fair Lady Blight?”

“Yes!” Amity reflexively answered, eyes wide. She looped her arm through Luz’s, trying to still the slight trembling of her hands. _Oh my gosh she’s so warm._

“Then I shall lead us on into thou Messtival!” Luz grinned as she started forwards, Amity beside her. She got all of three steps before stopping and proudly announcing, “I have no idea where to go!” 

Unable to hold in another giggle, Amity tugged on Luz’s arm, leading her towards the festivities. Soft fairy lights began to illuminate the streets as the sun dipped lower, and there were still witches and demons of all kinds out and about for the night, many of them dressed up. They seemed to be moving into the more crowded areas, with more laughter and shrieks of excitement coming from further ahead. Soon market stalls began to line the streets, selling everything from day to day tools, to once-off novelty enchantments – guaranteed to bring good luck or your snails back! – to carnival fare. Luz hesitated over a stand selling pink, tasty looking clouds of Rotten Candy, but kept moving at Amity’s insistence that the best stuff was further in.

“I didn’t think they’d bother setting up any stalls. Won’t the earthquakes shake all their stuff everywhere?” Luz asked.

Amity kept leading her towards the centre of the Messtival, a smile on her face and her arm wrapped tightly around Luz’s. “You mean the bonetremors? They’ve usually stopped by nighttime, there hasn’t been one for a while now.” Luz realised she was right. “Sometimes they go a little longer, but they’re not as strong. Once when I was little I think they kept going until I fell asleep, but the next day Emperor Belos made an announcement that the Titan had just felt a little restless that year, and there was nothing to be worried about. He actually made a joke about it.” She stopped, spinning to face Luz. “Oh no, I shouldn’t have mentioned him! I’m sorry Luz, I didn’t mean to-“

“Hey, hey, it’s alright.” Luz smoothly interrupted her, speaking softly. “You’ve grown up here, it’s not weird for you to mention him sometimes.” She made sure to smile extra wide at Amity. “Do I look upset?”

Amity tightened her grip on Luz’s arm. “No…”

“Exactly! Now let’s stop worrying about grumpy old Belos and have some fun! What’s that game they’re playing?”

The excitable young witch moved over to a game stand, dragging Amity along with her. They were in the thick of the Messtival now, with beings milling all around them, laughing, eating and having a good time. Some big rides peeked out over the tops of the buildings, looking vaguely similar to some from Earth, just with more eyeballs and teeth. The game in front of them featured a tall, swarthy looking witch twirling his moustache as he laid a hand on the shoulder of a squat, grumpy looking demon sitting on a stool next to him, his mouth set in a scowl and arms folded tightly across his chest. He had comically tiny wings poking out of his back. As they got closer, they saw one young witch step up to the little demon, clearing his throat before speaking. “Why does a blacksmith need an emperor?” He paused. “Because someone needs to work the Belos!” There was a round of mixed laughs and boos from the audience, and what looked like the young witch’s girlfriend pressed her palm to her forehead, grinning. The little demon simply let out a huff, not changing his pose or losing his scowl. The witch stepped back, disappointed, but perked up as he got a kiss on the cheek. Amity noticed this, glancing at Luz and feeling the tips of her ears heat up a little. _Please, please, please try this Luz! I want to- I want to kiss you as well!_ Even in her own thoughts, it was difficult to admit that.

The human was enthralled by the stall operator’s booming voice. “Step right up folks and do your best to make the Grumpus laugh! Yes indeed, anything and I do mean anything you can think of, he’s heard it all! He’s heard knock knocks, he’s heard demons cross the road, he’s heard every pun on the Isles. Can you make the Grumpus laugh? There’s no comedy coven!” He swept an arm across the back of the stall, gesturing to the big prizes hanging there. “Make him smile and you can take anything from this shelf. Why not a new magic eye to check out those pesky other dimensions? Or a perfume that makes you smell like anyone’s favourite food?” The knick knacks he gestured to had the same shoddy look of carnival rewards from home, but Luz’s eyes were focussed, staring in adoration at the glorious, glorious prize dangling from the roof of the stall. The operator’s eyes missed nothing, and grinning broadly he gestured up at them. “Or better yet, if you make him laugh out loud you get your pick of the top shelf! A pair of new wingshoes! A pixie of your very own to take home!” He pointed at Luz’s newest obsession. “Even this cuddly fellow, enchanted to hug you right back!” The big, fuzzy, dark purple otter plushie gently rubbed its head against his hand for a moment before freezing again.

Luz was captivated. “I must have it.”

Amity blinked. “What, the seasel?”

Looking a little closer, Luz blinked. “Seasel? Well, that explains the big sabre teeth. We have them on Earth as well, almost.” She turned and presented her shirt to Amity. “They are called otters!”

“Ohhhh,” Amity nodded, smiling at her… her date’s enthusiasm. Titan, she could get used to thinking that. “Do you think you can make the Grumpus laugh? He seems pretty, well… grumpy.”

Luz waved her hand dismissively. “Pshhh, who do you think you’re talking to Amity? I can make anyone laugh!” Amity could hold in a giggle at that, and Luz smiled wider. “See?”

Still, she watched a couple of other witches try their hands first – a lame joke about the construction coven building bridges and then some sort of weird dance thing, before she nodded and stepped up. “I’ve got this!”

The operator, gleefully counting his snails, rounded on the new contender. “Well well, another young witch wants to try their hand at amusing the Grumpus?”

Luz nodded, looking determined. “Yes sir I do!” She pointed a dramatic finger at the demon. “You get ready to laugh your socks off!” The demon raised a sceptical eyebrow, wiggling his sock-less feet. 

Luz handed over a few snails to the operator and he made them vanish like magic, his eyes sliding between her and Amity, still watching off to the side with a happy look on her face, eyes gazing at Luz in a way he absolutely couldn’t mistake. Titan, he was doing well enough tonight, why not show them all what a good guy he was? He placed an arm around Luz’s shoulders as he stepped closer, gesturing grandly to the crowd even as he spoke to her. “Well I tell you what, young witch! The last thing I want you to do is embarrass yourself in front of your girlfriend, so just for you I’ll give you three tries for the price of one!” The crowd cheered at that, even as Amity’s brain went haywire, thought sparking and fizzling until she felt that smoke should pour out her ears. _Girlfriend, he called me her girlfriend, Luz’s girlfriend, I’m Luz’s girlfriend! Me! Amity! I know her! She’s Luz’s girlfriend!!_ She tried to watch Luz, offering her support even as her brain just degenerated into repeating _girlfriendgirlfriendgirlfriend_ over and over.

Luz looked oddly at Amity as the operator spoke, but still nodded at him. “Thank you sir! Now stand back and watch the master of comedy work!”

She cleared her throat and approached the Grumpus. “Why did the Principal remove the Darkness Track from Hexside?” A pause. “Because only he goes Bump in the night!” Laughter sounded out from the audience, with only a few groans of pain at the terrible pun. Even the stall operator chuckled, but the Grumpus seemed unmoved, shifting slightly on his stool.

“Oh my dear, you’ll have to try harder than that! He’s heard every Bump joke you could think of.”

Luz pondered a minute, looking back at Amity. They locked eyes before Luz suddenly grinned widely and winked – _winked!_ – at her.

“Why is the Blight family always so successful? Because two wrongs don’t make a Blight!”

This time there was even more laughter, and she could have sworn for just a moment the Grumpus’ lips tilted upwards. But the operator shook his head. “One last try little witchling! Try to think of something he’ll never have seen before!”

Luz seriously pondered this time, tapping a finger on her chin. _Think Noceda, think. What would he have never seen? Oh, human jokes, of course! But what’s a good human joke? A man walks into a bar? No, that wouldn’t work… Knock knock jokes? Wait, he said he’d heard them all. Come on Luz, what always got people to react at home, what never failed to – oh._ She smirked. _Ohhhhhh._

“Okay Grumpus, here we go!” In one smooth motion, she pulled the collar of her shirt up over her face, revealing the dark singlet on underneath. Her hands worked under the collar for a moment, before she let out a triumphant laugh. “Feast your grumpy eyes… on this!” She pulled her collar down, revealing her turned-out eyelids. She nudged them up and down. “Bleep bloop bleep!”

The Grumpus’ eyes widened before his mouth shot open as he let out a long wheeze, as if the air was kicked out of his lungs. Inhaling deeply, he began a deep, rumbling laugh, his gravelly voice booming out from his small body. He kept laughing and laughing, slapping his knee, tears leaking from his multiple eyes.

Luz danced on the spot triumphantly. “YES! I knew I could do it! I am the leader of the Comedy Coven!”

True to his word, the operator reached up and tapped the seasel plushie, getting it to fall into his arms. “Well here you go young lady, won fair and square!” He winked at the crowd. “Shows me for giving her two free tries, eh?” Laughter and loud agreement echoed back. 

Before accepting the plushie Luz turned to Amity, seeing the young witch looking up at her with a soft blush and a warm smile. It made Luz just… just happy to see Amity looking at her like that, and she knew this was the right thing to say. “Amity, do you want me to pick any of these for you?”

Amity felt her heart flutter at the selfless gesture, her ears wiggling all over again. _I know how badly she wanted that seasel, and she’s just offering to get me anything I want? Damnit, why does she have to be so… so perfect! Ugh, and cute! And pretty!_ Feeling her near-constant blush deepen, she shook her head. “Oh no way Luz, I know how much you want that seasel. Go for it!”

Luz beamed. “Thank you thank you thank youuuu!” She gratefully accepted the plushie, hugging it tightly and waving to the crowd before stepping back down beside Amity. Impulsively she wrapped her free arm around Amity’s waist, pulling her in for a hug as well. “Seeeeee?” she said, waggling her eyebrows. “I told ya I can make anyone laugh!”

Amity hiccupped a panicked laugh into Luz’s shoulder, enraptured and terrified of every moment of contact, before pulling away slightly. “He’ll think twice before he gives a human free tries, that’s for sure!”

“Heck yeah he will, representing my fellow humans up there! Showing you witches how to laugh!” She threw a hand in front of her, trying to look cool and only making Amity roll her eyes. The moment was interrupted by a growling sound from Luz’s stomach, and she smiled sheepishly. “But I don’t suppose whatever we could do next could be food related? I was so excited I kinda forgot to eat something earlier.”

Feeling a pulse of hunger herself for almost the exact same reason, Amity hesitantly reached out and shyly wrapped her arm around Luz’s again. “I know the feeling.”

They set off, pointing out anything interesting as they made their way to the food stalls, enjoying the warm night air and the merriment all around them. Amity could have lived in this moment forever, arm wrapped around Luz’s, slowly walking along without a care in the world, the whole night ahead of them.

Then Luz had to ruin it. 

“It was weird that he thought we were girlfriends though. He probably thought we were on a date!”

Amity froze, her eyes widening.

_What-_

_I don’t-_

_I don’t understand-_

Luz kept painfully, heartbreakingly talking, that confused smile on her face, not an ounce of malice in her. “I hope that didn’t make you feel uncomfortable. Hey, are you alright Amity?” Luz looked at her, brow furrowing in concern, not knowing – not _understanding_ – why Amity had lowered her head, why she couldn’t see her eyes. 

“I-“ She tried to speak, but her throat convulsed and she shut her mouth, trying desperately not to be sick. “I… don’t…” Amity screwed her eyes shut, but she could still feel hot tears growing, spilling past them, sliding down her face, tearing to shreds any attempt to maintain her composure. Her arm was still wrapped around Luz’s but the touch felt so wrong, so _fake_ now that she couldn’t stand it. She pulled her arm back sharply, maybe too sharply, throwing Luz off balance and getting her a bewildered look. “I have to go,” she managed to choke out, before spinning and moving quickly off, her fast walk quickly breaking out into a run, unable to hold in a sob.

Behind her Luz righted herself, shocked, her eyes wide and panic gripping her. Everything seemed to be going so well, what happened? _Was it me? Did I do something wrong? Oh cram, what did I say?_ “Amity! Amity wait!” She ran off after her, weaving through the crowd to try and catch the nimble Blight. Around a stall, past a dropped ice scream cone, through a knot of laughing demons. Reaching an intersection Luz looked wildly around, eyes darting, desperate for a sign of her best friend. She just managed to catch a glimpse of green hair disappearing into an alley, messily spilling out of its usual neat half up ponytail. “Amity!”

Panting, she finally reached the alley and caught up to Amity. The taller witch was facing the other way, arms held tightly around herself, and there was no mistaking that she was crying, her shoulders shaking as the quiet sniffles and sobs echoed out of the alley. Luz moved towards her carefully, terrified of making things worse. Somehow, the worst part was Amity’s hair. Always so neat, so ordered, carefully pulled back and every strand in place, it was now wildly disarrayed around her head with some of her chestnut roots showing.

Luz had no idea what to do. She stood there for a long, awkward moment before speaking up, her voice quivering. “…Amity?”

Amity didn’t turn to face her, didn’t raise her head – didn’t move at all. “Go away Luz…” Her voice was quiet, barely above a whisper but so raw with emotion it made Luz feel sick. “Please, just leave me alone.”

The human stepped closer. “Amity I’m sorry, whatever I said or, or did, I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

The other girl hiccupped out a pained laugh through her tears. _How does she not GET IT?!_ “Whatever you _did_? You don’t even _know_?!”

Luz stammered, mouth gaping like a fish. “I-I thought we were… were having fun!” She took a step closer, half raising a hand, reaching out unseen. “I was having so much fun with you Amity, I always do, I love spending time with you! Please, tell me…. I don’t understand.” Her voice actually broke on the last word, and before she knew it Luz was crying too, tears silently dripping down her face.

Amity took a deep breath, her shoulders slowly rising and falling as she straightened her back, making a visible effort to compose herself. _Don’t let it show Amity. Don’t let her know how much it hurt._ She turned back around to face Luz, and her face was rigidly controlled, a mask of superiority and vague disgust she’d honed over years. “Well, thank you _Noceda._ ” She spat the last word out, her voice betraying her anguish. Luz actually took a step back at the anger and betrayal loaded into those four words, and it was all Amity could do to force the next words out. “Trust a _human_ to ruin my first date.”

Luz blinked. “First…?” 

Her jaw dropped, and just like that it made sense. 

_Oh my gosh. Ohhhhhh my gosh. This was a date? An actual for real romantic date? Oh cram, of course it was! We were arm in arm walking through a carnival! I offered to win her a freaking prize! What is wrong with me? How did I not realise this!?_ Her pulse quickened as she stared at her angry, hurting best friend. _What do I do? I don’t – I never meant for this to happen!_ She firmed her mouth and stood straighter. Amity was still there, glaring at her. She hadn’t walked off yet.

“Amity,” she began, still crying but at least talking firmly, “I didn’t know you meant this as a… as a date.” She couldn’t stop the squirming feeling in her stomach at saying the words out loud, and now both of their faces were red. “I thought that you just wanted to… to hang out together. Check out the carni- the Messtival.”

In an instant all the fight seemed to drain out of the taller witchling, her shoulders slumping as she raised her hands to her tear-streaked face. “Just... forget it Luz. I’m going to go-“

“I wasn’t finished.”

Amity peeked through her fingers, not saying a word. The human stood there, looking intensely at her, mouth still set in a firm line. She hadn’t stopped crying. “I’m sorry that I made you feel this way. I didn’t understand that you meant this to be a real date.” She lowered her gaze, feet shuffling a little. “But, um…” She rubbed at her elbow, hesitating. Why was this so difficult to say?! She shyly looked back up at Amity. “I’d… like this to be a real date too.”

For a long, long moment Amity held her eyes, causing Luz to shift her stance and swallow nervously. After a terrifying wait, Luz finally heard her speak up, voice a little rough. “…you mean it?”

Hope shooting through her, Luz nodded rapidly up and down. “Yeah, I really do. I just… I never thought that you’d be, you know, _interested_ in me that way.” She looked down, unable to hold that golden eye contact. “You’re just so nice, and so pretty, and I knew you already liked someone else.” She couldn’t seem to stop herself from talking now. “Ever since Grom I know you’ve liked someone, and I really wanted you to be happy with them. You deserve it, and who wouldn’t be happy with you? You’re… Amity Blight!” She finished with a smile on her face, still a little shy but her tears stopping now that they were talking, kinda.

Amity covered her eyes again, letting out a slow breath and muttering to herself, “Oh Titan she’s so dumb.” She carefully wiped at her face before slowly lowering her hands, revealing her puffy, watery eyes and red cheeks. She was silent for a moment, wanting to put this moment behind her, behind both of them, but needing to speak honestly first. “You really upset me,” she said. 

Luz took a frantic step closer, waving both hands, desperate to make up for this. “I know, I know, I’m sorry! I really didn’t mean to! I’m just a dumb human who didn’t realise anything!”

Amity huffed out a mirthless laugh. “Yeah, you are.”

There was another long, awkward silence. Luz had no idea what to say or do, simply wanting Amity to stop crying, to feel better, to talk with her like she was ten minutes – _Ten minutes? It feels like hours!_ – ago. Amity wanted to forgive her, she really, _really_ wanted to forget what had just happened and go back to her perfect date, but she needed something. She couldn’t just drop this whole terrible conversation and pretend like it didn’t happen. 

Finally Luz seemed to realise that Amity was waiting on something and stepped even closer, standing just across from her former date. She cleared her throat and when she spoke, there was a bit more of her normal self in her voice. “Amity Blight.” She was blushing bright red, but she held out her hand, palm up. “Will you please take a dumb human on a date?”

Amity’s lips turned upwards for a moment, but she didn’t move, staring Luz down intensely. The human’s hand didn’t waver. Desperate to hope but still hurting she spoke up again, voice low. “You _really_ mean it?”

Luz nodded firmly. “One thousand percent. I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather be right now than on a date with you, Amity.”

Silence again. Long, oppressive, terrifying. 

“…You owe me _so_ many game prizes.”

A huge, happy smile bloomed on Luz’s face as Amity’s hand gently clasped hers. “As many as I can carry.”

A wavering smile peeked through Amity’s expression, and she raised a self-conscious hand to tuck some of her loose hair behind an ear, giving Luz an idea.

“As a matter of fact, I’ll start right now!” She casually reached up and slid one of her rainbow clips out, the hair on that side messily falling into place. With deft fingers she reached up and smoothed Amity’s hair back, gently sliding the glowing hair clip into position. “There. Is that better?” She was blushing, and for once Amity could read it plain on her face. Luz looked scared, vulnerable… but hopeful.

Amity reached up and touched the clip, seeing the gentle rainbow glow reflected in Luz’s dark eyes. She took a deep breath in and just… let it all out. _Stop overthinking._ The stress, the tension, the anger, the bitter disappointment. She tried to force it all out of her body, and focus on the gentle, warm feeling of soft fingers entwining with hers. When she smiled again it was bigger and brighter, and properly reached her golden eyes. “Much better.”

* * *

Eda panted softly, bracing her arm against a wall as she took a few deep breaths. Her back ached. _I’m getting too old for this. Oof, my bones hurt._ Slung over her shoulder was a small cloth bundle, clinking enticingly with each movement. The sound brought a fanged smile to her face, despite her fatigue. _Well, it’s not all bad. At least I’ve got some good loot to show for it._

King was sprawled on the ground at her feet, his little chest rising and falling as he gasped for air. “Oh wow… I didn’t think… you two would go this far!” He groaned as he levered himself up, glancing up and down the side street they’d taken a breather in. “I always thought she’d be more… Well, I don’t know what I thought she’d be _more_ of, but maybe _less_ eager to slide into a life of crime.”

Eda laughed softly. “Oh ho no, she’s gone against the Emperor. My Lily is Bad Girl Coven for life now.”

“Still… this bad?” King looked at her suspiciously. “If I didn’t know any better I’d say she’s having more fun than you are.” 

Pushing herself determinedly upright, she glared at the little demon. “Hey, she still has magic! Give a witch a break!”

A slim, dark shape suddenly slid into the alley alongside them, pressing up against a wall and putting a finger to its lips. Heavy footfalls sounded from the street as a small group ran past. “Come on, she went this way!” an angry, rough voice called. Once they faded away Lilith bent double, panting as she cackled to herself. When she straightened, her mismatched eyes were alight with fervour. 

“I haven’t had this much fun in years! Edalyn, why didn’t you ever tell me what, what a _rush_ this was!’ Broad grin in place, a bundle swinging behind her _almost_ as big as Eda’s, she was the picture of an adrenaline high. 

Eda, vaguely unsettled, gazed at the Isles’ newest thief. _I think I’ve created a monster._

* * *

Hand in hand the two young witches left the alley, walking slowly back towards the Messtival. The name suited them both well; each was a bit of a mess at the moment, with red cheeks and puffy eyes. For all that though they were both smiling and gripping each other’s hand like a lifeline. A firm, warm, soft anchor of reality to the Molar Coaster of emotion the last few minutes had been. 

Luz let her feet aimlessly direct her, walking with the flow of the crowd. She felt such _relief_ , the tension and fear of their confrontation giving way to first hope, then elation, and now a bone-deep giddiness that she couldn’t quite seem to shake. She was on a _date_ with Amity Blight. _She_ was on a date with Amity Blight. She was on a date with _AMITY BLIGHT!_ If it weren’t for the amazing, captivating sensation of Amity’s hand in hers she’d be skipping along, swinging her arms in excitement.

Amity couldn’t shake a sense of disbelief, like the night around her wasn’t quite real. What Luz had said, how perfectly, infuriatingly _Luz_ she’d been had cut her deeply, but she just couldn’t bring herself to stay mad at her. Luz was a good person. _A better one than me at least._ She was never mean, never cruel, she could just be a bit… dumb. A smile crept across her face at the thought, and she almost laughed at herself. Titan help her, she thought it was _cute_ how clueless Luz could be sometimes. Just a few minutes ago she’d been crying her eyes out at the exact same thought. _You’re a mess Amity._ She glanced shyly at Luz and didn’t even realise she’d squeezed her hand until she looked right back at her. _But somehow things are working._

“Soooo…” Luz began, smiling a little hesitantly. “We got a little sidetracked back there huh?”

Amity grinned, rolling her eyes. “You think?”

The human laughed, bright spots appearing on her cheeks. “Yeah, I guess I sorta deserved that. I know I said it back there like a million times, but I really am sorry Amity. I never wanted to hurt you.”

The Blight sighed, shifting her hips to gently bump against Luz as they walked. “I know you didn’t dummy. You were just dense. Really, really dense.”

Luz let out an ‘oof’ sound, putting a dramatic hand to her chest. “Okay, maybe I deserved that too. But I know what will make us feel better!”

Amity’s thoughts instantly whirled to their favourite place these past few weeks, her face flushing as she glanced down at her date’s lips very quickly. _Damnit, get a hold of yourself! Don’t be weird! Tonight was almost ruined already, just try and relax!_ “Oh? Y-yeah?”

Luz picked up her pace, dragging Amity along with her as she pointed ahead. “Food!” 

The pair entered a food court area, with stalls wafting out delicious smells coming from every angle. Amity masked her minor disappointment – she was pretty hungry – as they ambled along, curiously looking at what was on offer. Feeling her heart beat a little faster, she slid her arm back up to tangle with her date’s, holding it close to her. Luz looked at her a little startled, but quickly smiled and playfully bonked her hip back against Amity. _Calm down, stupid ears!_

Luz noticed the little wiggling on either side of Amity’s head and spoke up. “Are your ears okay Amity? You know, I’ve seen other people’s twitch like that at school sometimes but I’ve never really thought about it.”

Fighting the urge to clap her hands to either side of her head, Amity blushed darkly. _Titan Luz, why do you have to ask that? Of all things, THAT?!_ She cleared her throat, trying to compose herself, before she mumbled out something too softly for Luz to hear.

Luz quirked an eyebrow. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that?”

“They, um… they twitch when a witch is happy,” whispered Amity, unable to bring herself to look at Luz, hyper aware of how hot her ears felt. “You can control it better as you get older.”

Luz _barely_ held in a squeal at how cute that was, realising that might be a bit more than Amity could take. She clamped down on it, letting out a very quiet strangled wheeze, stars shining in her eyes. _Oh cram that’s the cutest thing ever. How did I not realise that? Can all witches do that?_ She glanced down at her blushing date, who was still unable to look at her. _Eh, doesn’t matter. So long as this one can!_

Soon the pair found themselves sitting at a table tucked off to one side, sitting across from each other and enjoying their choices. Luz had decided on an ice scream sundae, the little horrified gasps and “Nooooo!”s coming from it with each spoonful not enough to put her off. Amity, still a little shaken from earlier, had decided just to go with a Fizzer, sipping calmly on the straw as she watched Luz dig in, a shy smile on her face.

About halfway through, and beginning to slow down, Luz licked some spare ice scream off her spoon before pointing it at Amity curiously. “So what exactly is a Fizzer?”

Amity’s just stared dreamily at the spoon for a moment, the smile fixed on her blushing face as her thoughts were entirely elsewhere, before her eyes went wide and she came back to herself. “Oh! Yes! Fizzers are good!” 

Luz grinned. “Well, it certainly looks tasty. Do you mind if I try a sip?”

“Oh, sure!” She held the small bottle out to Luz, the straw tipping sideways. Bringing it to her mouth, Luz tried to tilt it back to avoid the straw but it was a bit awkward. “Um…” _Oh wow, this is almost like kissing her. Oh, do NOT think about that right now Noceda!_ “Do you mind if I use the straw?”

Amity hoped her expression didn’t reveal she was having similar thoughts. “NO! I mean, it’s fine, go for it!” She very emphatically did not watch closely as Luz pursed her lips around the straw.

The human’s eyes widened as the first drops of Fizzer hit her tongue. It was kind of like the soda she knew, but more in every sense. It was like drinking electricity, pure energy coursing down her throat, tasting like weightlessness felt, like good music sounded. She pulled the bottle away, looking at the innocuous little beverage with stars in her eyes. “I must have it,” she muttered.

“Do you mind if I have a bite of your ice scream Luz?” asked Amity. She was eyeing the half eaten sundae hungrily, her stomach settling the more time they spent together. 

Luz looked up at her. “Oh, sure! Here you go!” Amity’s hand, half raised to take the spoon from her date, shot back to her side in surprise as Luz dug into the ice scream herself, lifting the spoon up to Amity without thinking. After a moment her thoughts caught up with her and she hesitated, smiling awkwardly. “Um…”

Amity almost toppled her chair as she lunged forward to chomp on the spoon. Her eyes were screwed shut, face glowing, but she pulled back gently, leaving the spoon clean and savouring the sweet taste of the carnival food. Luz watched in awe, her pulse racing. _Be still my little bi heart._

__

Enjoying her first taste of ice scream for a long while, Amity let out a contented “mmmm” before swallowing, opening her eyes to the image of Luz staring at her, mouth open, red to the tips of her round ears. In an instant the excitement of the moment crashed over her and she couldn’t stand the tension. Shooting to her feet and actually toppling her chair this time, she blurted out “Luz would you like to keep walking?!”

For once the human seemed just as awkward as she was. She nodded rapidly, rising as well. “Yeah, okay!” She scooped up her ice scream bowl, suddenly having lost her appetite for the remains of it. “Let’s um, let’s check out more of the Messtival!”

Amity stepped away from the table, still blushing furiously, before she heard a throat clear behind her. Turning curiously she saw Luz simply standing there, smiling at her softly before gently holding out her arm. Letting out a giggle, Amity moved closer and wrapped both arms around it, dragging Luz out of the food court with a renewed burst of energy and buying another Fizzer along the way. 

With only one straw.

They meandered through the Messtival sometimes holding hands, sometimes linking arms, but always in contact. As they walked Luz made good on her promise, trying game after game until she had a pile of prizes in her arms, all won for Amity. Neither of them could stop smiling or laughing, having the time of their lives. They came across a group of kids and Amity recognised several of them from her book club, taking the time to stop and talk with them for a moment. After checking that Luz was okay with it she handed out all their prizes to the kids, adding to the carnival magic. The two adult chaperones with them thanked the pair heartily, mutters of “good, upstanding young witches” and “very generous of them” coming from the pair. Amity kept one plush toy to herself though, a little yellow moon demon.

As they bade their goodbyes to the kids and kept walking, Luz’s fingers quickly entwined in hers again, both of them clutching their plushies with their free arms. “I told you Amity, he’s not a moon demon. He’s a _plátano_.”

Amity looked at the crescent shaped yellow plushie, with the ends of one side peeled back slightly to reveal softer mush underneath and a dumb little cartoon face. “Are you sure? Because I swear, the peeled back skin looks exactly like-“

Luz rapidly cut her off. “I am one hundred percent sure, both that he’s a _plátano_ and that I don’t want to hear the end of that sentence. We have them on Earth, they’re a kind of human fruit. They are good! They taste like yellow.” She frowned thoughtfully. “Although maybe I only think that because they _are_ yellow? Whatever, either way he’s definitely one of them.”

The Blight smiled at her before holding the plushie out at arm’s length. “Well then, I hereby name him Mister… _Plátano_?” She hesitated over the word, looking questioningly at Luz to make sure she got the pronunciation right. The human grinned and shook her head.

“ _Plátano_.”

“… _Plátano_?”

“No, no, _plátano_.”

“ _Plátano_.”

“No, it’s _plátano_!”

“ _Plátano_!”

Luz finally broke out laughing, confusing Amity as she struggled to get the pronunciation right. She could have sworn she had it! “You had it right the first time.” And then she did the _thing._ That amazing, frustrating, wonderful _Luz_ thing where she smiled at you and you knew that you had every scrap of her attention, that everything about her was happy and positive and directed squarely at you. “I just liked hearing you speak Spanish.”

 _Ohhhhhh Titan_. Amity’s knees _actually wobbled_ like she was in a stupid romance book, and she didn’t have it in her to be mad about it. Clutching the prize in her arms, with Luz standing there staring at her after saying something so stupidly, _perfectly_ romantic, Amity’s brain went into meltdown. Smoke _must_ have been pouring out of her wiggling ears. Her cheeks flared as she struggled to say something, anything! She tried to let out a scoff, but it came out weak, half-hearted. “I bet that’s what you tell all the girls.” _Whyyyyyy?!_

Luz took it in good humour though, giggling before looking away, a little embarrassed. “Actually, um… I’ve never really done this before.” She tucked back some of her hair, a little embarrassed. “Back on Earth I never really fit in. I was picked on a lot. I tried to never let it get to me, but…” She shrugged, and the affected casualness of the gesture struck Amity as achingly sad. “I was pretty lonely. No one wanted to hang out with the weird kid, much less _date_ her. Now that I’ve come to the Boiling Isles everything just seems to fit me so much better.” They’d stopped walking, and she gently squeezed Amity’s hand as they stood close together, making eye contact and bashfully looking away. “Now I’ve found someone who’s actually a big enough dork to go out with me.”

They were standing very close, but Amity stepped closer.

“They don’t know what they were missing. Humans don’t deserve someone as nice as you.”

Luz laughed nervously, blushing at the intense look on Amity’s face but not moving away. When did she get so bold... or so close?

“I’m just happy that, um… That you and the Isles…” she trailed off, not sure what to say, her heart pounding in her throat, her eyes roaming over Amity’s beautiful, flushed face…

Beneath their feet, later and more delayed than anyone on the Isles expected, a small bonetremor shook the land. As far as tremors went it was minor, a little quiver like an aftershock of the day’s earlier full-scale quakes, but it was enough to make people stumble. A few of the more delicate game stands toppled over as quick-talking stall operators smoothly told their customers “no refunds,” and raised voices sounded out from behind Amity and Luz as a pair of thieves were caught in the act and chased off, but neither of them payed the slightest attention to it. Because the tremor had made them both stumble. Because the tremor had made them reach out to support each other, standing as close as they were. 

Because for an instant, for a brief, blink-and-you-miss-it moment, their lips had brushed together.

It couldn’t be called a kiss but both of them recoiled, flushing hotly, arms still holding each other as they pulled their faces back. They stared at each other, holding their breath, both praying the other couldn’t feel the rapid pounding of their heart. Luz moved her head forward a fraction, and Amity moved to match it. She gulped, and inched further forward, Amity moving in again. They both leaned towards each other, heads tilting, eyes sliding closed, and – 

“STOP, THIEF!”

A deep, angry, bellowing voice made them leap apart like they’d been shocked, wide-eyed and panting, watching as a slim, cackling figure neither of them recognised ran past them, a small group of fist-waving stall operators chasing after. A trail of shiny little trinkets marked their path on the ground, more than a few Messtival-goers letting out a little “Ooh!” and scooping them into a pocket or bag.

Both of them stood off to one side of the street, hands clutched together and hearts pounding, struggling to compose themselves. Amity had a death grip on Mr _Plátano_. _Please don’t notice how sweaty my hand is! Why did that have to happen RIGHT THEN!? It couldn’t have happened a moment sooner, so it wasn’t so awkward! Or better yet a moment later, so I could have actually ENJOYED MYSELF?!_

Luz gulped nervously, glancing over at the still frozen Amity. _Oh man, ohhhh man oh man, we almost kissed! I almost kissed a girl!_ A ghost of a smile found its way on to her face, and she couldn’t stop the warm fuzzy feeling from the next thought. _I almost kissed Amity! Oh my gosh, this is the best night ever! Ugh, if only I’d gotten to! I really want to kiss her!_ The thought surprised her. She’d always liked Amity and had been attracted to her romantically for a little while now, but the thought of actually, well, _doing_ anything about it had never occurred to her. _I really want to kiss her._ Even holding hands or hugging hadn’t had quite the same charge to it as it had tonight. She was always very physically affectionate with all of her friends, and had made an effort not to be overly clingy to Amity since she’d realised how she felt. But now… but now… 

Movement over the rooftops caught her eye, and her eyes sparkled with determination. 

_I really want to kiss her!_

“Hey,” she said, catching Amity’s attention. She hiked a thumb up at the Scare-is Wheel. “Want to go for a ride?”

* * *

“That’s forty-one to forty, Edalyn!”

“Lily you’re not even trying to pickpocket, you’re just taking things and running away!”

“Why yes in fact, you _are_ losing!”

“Lily you get your pasty white butt BACK HERE!”

“Would one of you PLEASE carry me? My powerful demonic legs are _much shorter than yours_!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading Chapter 2, and stay tuned for the release of the final chapter next Sunday (hopefully), as well as the final two pieces of art. Once again I'd like to thank Raspbi and my beta readers for their wonderful contributions. As stated previously, the only reasoning behind the artwork selection was that they were the scenes I thought were cutest.
> 
> Please don't hesitate to leave a comment and I'll do my best to reply to you as soon as I can. You've all been extremely kind with feedback and kudos, it makes me feel like a million snails!


	3. Thank You

**Chapter 3: Thank You**

“You know we have this ride on Earth as well, and it’s pretty much the same thing. Except we call them Ferris Wheels, I’m not really sure why.”

“Wha-? Oh, Luz, we call them that here too. Scare-is Wheel is just the dumb name they called it for the Messtival.”

“Oh.” Luz laughed nervously. “That um, actually makes way more sense.”

Amity rolled her eyes. “You’re such a dummy.”

The pair of them had shouldered through the awkwardness of the bonetremor and moved over to the carnival ride, waiting in line for a couple of minutes before getting into one of the hanging gondolas and settling in. To Amity’s extreme pleasure, after a moment of visible hesitation Luz had slid an arm across the back of the seat to rest over her shoulders and she’d leant into the touch, resting her head against the side of Luz’s. They shared a comfortable, warm silence as the wheel slowly spun, rising until they were near the top and had a gorgeous view of Bonesborough spread out before them, twinkling with lights and with witches and demons laughing and enjoying the Messtival all around them. In the far distance, the colossal bulk of the Titan’s skull watched over everything, but both witchlings were much more concerned with the girl beside them. 

Cuddled into Luz’s side, Amity felt so incredibly relaxed she didn’t even realise she was letting out a deep, contented rumbling sound. It vibrated out of her chest, surprising her with its intensity when she became aware of it. To her surprise she found that she didn’t really care. No matter how private it may have been… she was happy to let Luz hear her purr. She glanced up at the human, hoping she felt the same way, just in time to see Luz turn to her with an awestruck expression on her face.

“Amity… are you purring?”

She nodded dreamily, before blinking. The sound cut off. Luz seemed amazed… too amazed. A horribly embarrassing thought occurred to her. “Do… humans purr?” _Please, Titan, please say yes, please don’t let her think I was sitting here randomly vibrating!_

Luz threw her other arm around Amity as well, suddenly squeezing her tightly. “ _Eso es tan lindo!_ No, humans don’t! I had no idea witches did it, that’s the cutest thing _ever!_ ”

Amity shifted in Luz’s arms, rather enjoying herself despite her embarrassment. “It’s pretty private. Witches usually only do it in front of family members, or with… um…” She trailed off awkwardly, scared to keep talking, but Luz seemed to understand. “... does it bother you?”

Luz pulled back, keeping her arm around Amity’s shoulders, and looked at her in bewilderment. “Are you crazy? It’s adorable, I had no idea!”

Feeling her tension melt away, Amity smiled back at her before leaning back in, resting against her to take in the view again. After a few moments, she started softly purring again.

Luz spoke up. “You know, so much of what you’ve said or done makes so much more sense to me now.”

Amity didn’t move, her thumb gently rubbing across the back of Luz’s hand. “What do you mean?”

“Well, Grom? Tonight I’ve kinda figured out who you were going to ask. And yes, I do feel so, so dumb about that.” Amity laughed softly at that, the memory changing from bittersweet to amusing. “And the Grudgby match?” Amity could hear the grin in Luz’s voice. “When you got so flustered over playing with us, or when I carried you… now I know why.”

Amity groaned quietly, turning her head to press her face into Luz’s neck, hiding her expression. “Can we not talk about what a mess I was?”

“ _Was_?”

“Luz!” 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” They were both grinning now, still taking in the view, enjoying this quiet moment of privacy. Luz started unconsciously stroking up and down Amity’s arm as they sat together, her seasel tight against her other side. “Hey Amity?”

She stirred slightly. “Yeah?”

“I’m really enjoying tonight with you. I… I like you a lot.” Her voice was quiet.

Amity felt her pulse quicken. “I like you too Luz. Um… a lot.”

The human shifted, and when Amity looked up Luz was looking right at her, their faces just barely apart. Luz’s lips were slightly parted, her cheeks blazing, and her eyes had such a look of intensity, of focus. “Earlier, when that tremor happened and we… you know, we…” She trailed off, embarrassed, but they both knew what she meant. She continued, voice barely above a whisper. “I’d really like to kiss you, if that’s okay.” She smiled openly, her guard down and her feelings laid bare and vulnerable before Amity. 

Staring in rapt attention back up at her date, Amity couldn’t believe she’d actually made it this far. She’d done the impossible. This time last night she was working on an abomination paper! Now here she was, on a date with Luz after asking her out. Getting prizes won for her. Sharing a Fizzer, and both of them pretending that using the same straw was no big deal. _This is perfect_ , she thought, wanting to crystallise this moment forever. The look on Luz’s face, the feel of her warm body against Amity’s side. She swallowed nervously, her eyes slowly moving over Luz’s expression, trying to capture this moment in her memory as perfectly as she could. The matching glow from their rainbow hair clips gave just enough light to throw a sparkle into Amity’s eyes, and she didn’t even try to hold back her own small, nervous smile. Feeling happy tears prick her eyes she nodded, a bare, miniscule tilt of her head. “That’s very okay.” She leaned in slightly and gently pressed her forehead to the human’s, both girls giggling at the contact, suspended high over the Messtival.

After a moment Luz tilted her head to the side, her eyes blissfully closed, leaning further in, feeling the warm puff of Amity’s breath ghosting over her cheek. The feeling almost made her giggle, but she was far too focussed on just…

leaning…

in…

“FINALLY! There you are kid, we’ve gotta GO!”

Both of their eyes flew open as they sprang apart, hearts hammering and moment utterly ruined. Amity was so startled she actually flinched backwards off the chair, sliding on to the floor of their little gondola. Luz swung her head around wildly, looking for the source of the voice, _that_ voice, the _voice that is ruining my night right now!!_

Floating beside the gondola on her staff, Eda frantically gestured for Luz to climb aboard. The sharp-eyed witch had missed nothing, instantly picking up on the interplay happening and privately feeling quite guilty for spoiling the moment, but they had no time right now! Perched behind her Lilith peered down at the two witchlings with a speculative look on her face, taking in every detail.

“Eda?!” The Owl Lady raised a brow at the tone in her apprentice’s voice, surprised. She may have actually managed to make Luz mad. “What’s going on? What are you doing here?” She was already helping a red-faced Amity back to her feet, her pulse still racing and her thoughts still a little foggy, focussed on the green-haired witch beside her.

Eda spoke rapidly, keeping an eye out for the mob on the ground. “Look kid, I hate to disturb you two but right now we have to move! There’s a whole angry mob down there out for _this one’s_ hide,” she said, pointing a finger behind her at the still-disguised Lilith, “and I made the mistake of being seen with her. For some reason, everyone down there was very ready to believe I could be behind all the theft!”

There was a long, heavy pause, only ended by King popping out of Eda’s hair. “Ha!”

“Okay so maybe they’re justified a _little_ bit, but I didn’t even do half of the stealing!”

Lilith smirked. “ _Less_ than half actually!”

Eda spun to look at her. “That’s because _you_ broke the rules and got us caught in the first place!”

“That sounds like what someone in second place would say.”

“Lily so help me I will pull off my own hand and slap you with it.”

Amity shakily clung to Luz, trying to focus on her breathing and let her heartrate settle. She surreptitiously wiped her hands on her dress, hoping Luz hadn’t noticed how sweaty they were. _Why?_ she bemoaned internally. _Why did they have to come right now? Right then? That was textbook, picture-perfect first date romance and it’s like they waited until the perfect moment to ruin it!_ She was as surprised as Eda by Luz’s outburst, but in a good way. It was nice to know that her date seemed as upset at the interruption as she was. _She wanted to kiss me! She_ wants _to kiss me! I could be kissing Luz LITERALLY RIGHT NOW IF YOU JUST GO AWAY!_

Finally, her top student brain clued in to something. “Wait, Lily?” She turned to the disguised witch sitting behind Eda, her eyes picking up on a couple of tell-tale illusion magic giveaways. “As in Lilith?”

The former coven leader started in surprise. “Oh yes! Of course, my mistake.” She leant forwards and quickly tapped both witchlings on the forehead, dispelling the glamour for each of them. They now saw Lilith as she was, leaning back behind Eda with a smile on her face. “There we go.” 

“Eda,” Luz said slowly, “what’s going on?”

Eda ran a hand down her face. “Uggghhhhhhh. Okay. So after you ran off to explore, King and I decided to get down to business. You know, picking pockets, pocketing picks, doing the candy caper.”

Despite herself, Luz gasped and looked at a suddenly sheepish King. “I missed a candy caper?!”

The demon growled. “We don’t talk about the candy caper!”

Eda waved a hand. “ANYWAY, I decided to be a nice big sister to Miss Fusspants here-“

“I am _tw_ o _years_ older than you!”

“-and let’s just say the family talent runs true. Before I knew it she was chasing marks and lifting shinies like a pro!” Her proud smile morphed into a scowl as she rounded on Lilith. “Until I realised she didn’t have a pro’s patience!”

Lilith waved an unconcerned hand. “Well, we’re already fugitives aren’t we? What’s a bit more?”

Luz narrowed her eyes. “What did you two do?”

Cutting off her sister’s proclamation of “Won!” Eda said “I stole a few things here and there, anything shiny that caught my eye. But this one went overboard, stole a couple too many things where people could see, yadda yadda, and now we’re on the run. Which returns me to what I was saying…” Down on the ground the angry mob had found them and was rapidly approaching, fingers pointing. “We’ve gotta GO! Climb aboard!”

A protesting “Hoo!” came from Owlbert, the little palisman twisting slightly to glare over his shoulder at Eda. She ran a hand down her face again. “Ughhh, and Owlbert can’t handle all of us!”

“Calm yourself, sister.” Lilith was already conjuring her staff, the slender length appearing between her hands as her white raven palisman shifted in place, managing to convey disapproval without really moving. “I know I know, Edalyn did it.” That seemed to settle it instantly, and Eda levelled an annoyed look at Lilith. Clearly the palisman was used to hearing that. Colouring slightly, Lilith cleared her throat. “Now come on aboard children. Follow along behind us.”

“YOU GET DOWN HERE AND BRING THE OWL LADY WITH YA!”

Both Clawthorne sisters reached out and bodily pulled their apprentices onto Lilith’s staff, the witchlings barely grabbing their things. Mister _Plátano_ was tucked under Amity’s arm, and Luz’s seasel clung on tightly to her side. As Eda rocketed off on Owlbert Luz gripped the staff, looking over her shoulder at Amity. “Hold on tight! Here we _go!_ ” On the last word she took off, avoiding some carnival plushies thrown by the crowd. Amity wrapped her arms tightly around Luz’s middle with a terrified shriek, tucking her head down and closing her eyes as the wind rushed past her. For a few moments there was nothing but the sound of wind whistling past them, before Luz pulled up slightly and their speed eased off. “Whew, that was fun…” With her eyes still shut tight, Amity felt Luz turn slightly to look at her, and heard the smile in her voice. “It’s okay now Amity, you can open your eyes.” There was a pause. “But, um, if you still feel nervous you can keep hanging on to me. I don’t mind.”

Amity’s arms tightened around Luz’s stomach at that, and both girls tried to ignore the feeling of being pressed up so tightly against each other. Luz swallowed nervously, her face glowing as she felt a bead of sweat run down her neck, whereas Amity tried to distract herself by slowly opening her eyes, and her jaw dropped when she saw the vista spread out beneath her.

The pair had climbed a little higher than their mentors whether by design or accident, and the sisters were a bit of a distance in front of them now, though angling towards where Luz knew the Owl House was. Spread out beneath them were the twinkling, glowing streets of Bonesborough, the witches and demons mere specks at this altitude. “Wow,” she muttered to herself, unaware she’d said anything aloud. The view was… unparalleled. She could actually see the outline of the Titan itself with her own eyes, not just on a map or in a textbook. Bonesborough seemed so small – there was the little square of Blight Manor, and over there she thought she could even see the Emperor’s palace, though it was hard to tell in the gloom.

“It’s beautiful isn’t it?” Luz said in front of her, in no rush to catch up to Eda. Lilith’s palisman seemed content with the sedate pace. “Eda took me up here when I was first settling into the Isles, to show me what an amazing, wonderful place it could be. I, um…” She grinned awkwardly where Amity couldn’t see. “I think the view is the second most beautiful thing up here.” _Oh my god, was that flirting? Was THAT what I think flirting is? I thought of a better line than that_ yesterday _!_ KING _wrote better flirting than that when we were-_

“Awwwww!” Amity pressed her face against Luz’s shoulder, grinning stupidly as her ears wiggled.

_Don’t question it Noceda, just take the win!_

“That was so _bad_ ,” laughed Amity, raising her head to grin at Luz’s blushing face, enjoying having the shoe on the other foot for once. Still... “But it was very sweet.” She craned her neck forwards and pressed a quick kiss to Luz’s cheek, feeling the girl stiffen in her arms as she leant back down against her shoulder, smiling gently. 

They coasted slowly among the lowest clouds for a little while, steadily making their way back to Eda’s house. It was a little cool this high up but they kept each other warm, and the two young witches started pointing interesting sights out to each other, Luz beginning with her light glyph constellation. As she pointed up towards it and talked about when she first spotted it, such a tone of excitement and wonder echoed in her voice that Amity couldn’t help but pay rapt attention, listening to her crush – her _date_ – gush about magic. On a whim, she leant forwards and kissed her cheek again, holding the contact a moment longer this time as Luz cut herself off with a strangled squeak. The look the human gave her was enough to make her heart flutter, but she kept a smile on her face even as she looked shyly away. “Sorry, I didn’t mean for you to stop. I just… wanted to.” She ducked her head again for a moment, grinning like an idiot, before something caught her eye. “Oh, hey! See down there, between those two ribs? There’s actually an ancient ruin there…” She went on speaking, telling the other girl what she knew as they shared their moment among the clouds.

Eventually, Lilith’s palisman shifted slightly on the tip of the staff, before angling downwards and moving a bit faster. “Woah, looks like this guy got sick of the scenic route! Easy buddy, we’re in no rush.” Once again, with no discernible change in its expression it somehow conveyed scepticism to Luz. “Oh cram. Hold on tight!” She tried to brace herself against the descent without shifting too much. She didn’t really want Amity to let go yet. 

Behind her the Blight had similar thoughts and was quite content holding on to her date. _Slow down palisman, this is the best scenic route I’ve ever been on._ She squeezed Luz for a moment, the human flashing a smile over her shoulder. _Or maybe it’s just the company_. 

In a few moments a soft glow became visible through the red pines as the Owl House slowly came into view on a cliff against the mountainside. Eda, King and Lilith were all visible out the front of it, with Hooty stretched out to speak to them. Lilith’s staff seemed to speed up again at the sight of its mistress, causing Amity to let out another shout as Luz said “Woah, woah, slow down buddy _slow_ _dow_ -!”

The staff decelerated rapidly, screeching to a picture-perfect halt right next to Lilith, before slowly rotating upwards and dumping both of the windswept teenagers on to the ground. It rotated slightly to stare at the older witch who gave it a long-suffering look before reaching out and shrinking him down to poof away. She leant over, helping the two to their feet. “Sorry about him. He can be a bit… temperamental.”

Perched on Eda’s shoulder, Owlbert let out a cheeky “Hoo,” earning a glare from Lilith.

The Owl Lady herself was struggling to get a word in edgewise as Hooty rambled to her, apparently quite bored without anyone to talk to all day. “So then THAT bug started making eyes at MY mud puddle, you know the reeeeeally good one just in front of me every time it rains?”

“Yes Hooty I know-“

“And there was noooo way I was going to stand for that, so I looked him straight in all his eyes and told him that if he didn’t wanna taste like friendship that he’d stay away from it!”

“Hooty, we’re all _very_ tired-“

“Of course while I was dealing with _him_ , a- _nother_ bug came and started inspecting all the heaps of trash I kept vomiting out whenever the ground shook! So I sat him down with the first bug and lead them through an intense counselling session-“

Eda gritted her teeth from steadily mounting frustration and tried to ignore the stifled demon giggles coming from inside her hair.

Taking pity on her mentor, Luz leant over to whisper in Amity’s pointed ear. Both of them grinned as Amity drew a spell circle, conjuring a simple illusion of an Emperor’s Coven witch in the treeline. Luz called out, “Hey Hooty! Look who’s come to play some more!”

The house demon rapidly swivelled before letting out a huge gasp. “OH MY GOSH A FRIEND!” he squealed, before slamming his face into the ground and tunnelling off towards the now fleeing illusion. 

Eda snorted out a laugh, eyeing the young Blight. “Not bad, kid. Okay, everyone inside!”

The warm, cozy glow of the Owl House’s interior greeted them all, each letting out a little bit of tension as they stepped over the threshold. King hopped nimbly out of Eda’s hair, making a beeline for the couch. “Oh yeah, there is no place like big cursed home.” He hopped up on to the couch and flopped backwards, limbs dangling bonelessly. “Oof. What a day. This king of demons is waaaaay too tired right now.” He lazily rolled his head to the side, taking in the Clawthorne sisters. “I haven’t seen you go that nuts about stealing for years Eda.”

The Owl Lady smirked, stretching her arms overhead and feeling her bones crack. “Yeah well, just goes to show I’ve still got the moves huh? An all-day marathon session of fleecing the biggest suckers on the Isles.”

Lilith smugly moved past her to settle on the couch. “A session that you lost, dear sister.” She calmly set down a bulging, clinking sack. 

Luz turned to her mentor. “Yeah, what’s the deal Eda? And not the short, we need to run away from a mob version.”

Eda rolled her eyes. “Okay, okay, but not yet. It’s been a long day and I want to sit down. King, can you-“ She cut herself off, noticing that King was already fast asleep on the couch. “Okay, scratch that. Lily, come help me in the kitchen would you? That flight was a bit chilly and I could use something warm to drink. Luz, why don’t you head upstairs and grab a couple of blankets down for us.” A slight grumbling sound came from the couch. “And for King.” The grumbling subsided. “Amity, do you mind getting a fire going kiddo? We’ll be back in a minute.”

The group split off, Eda and Lilith retreating to the kitchen quietly bickering. Luz smiled at Amity and gently squeezed her hand before rushing upstairs, rummaging around for a few big, soft blankets. Amity turned to the small fireplace, quickly lighting the ever-burning logs with a twirl of her finger to put a nice, cozy warmth in the room. She let out an appreciative hum – it had been getting a bit chilly. Stepping slowly back over to the couch, she let herself flop down, earning an annoyed mutter from King. She reached up to run a hand through her hair, pausing as she remembered the clip keeping it up in position. She carefully pulled it out, letting her green locks fall gently into place as she turned the clip over in her hands, gently smiling as she inspected it. She ran her thumb over the engravings on it as she let her gaze wander the room, taking in the few burning candles, the warmly crackling fire. All the random bits of magical paraphernalia littered the walls and shelves of the room, but it didn’t detract from the welcoming feel of it. She understood why Eda kept a couch that had more than a few rips and tears in it – the thing was sinfully comfortable. The muffled sounds coming from around her only added to the relaxing ambience – the gentle snuffling of King’s breath, the muffled voices from the kitchen and most of all, the soft thudding from Luz upstairs. Bringing her eyes back to the hair clip, she felt a bloom of warm happiness swell up inside her chest. Tonight was magical, in every sense of the word. She slowly slid the clip back into her hair. _I can’t believe that tonight actually happened. Everything has been so perfect._ She briefly recalled her breakdown in the alley, and the unwelcome interruption on the Ferris Wheel. _Well, almost everything. I wish it wasn’t almost over. I want to do this again and again…_

She blinked as she realised something. This was a date. Luz went with her on a _date_. That meant… were they dating now? _Luz really seemed to be enjoying herself, and I had the time of my life. Does that mean she’ll want to go out again?_ A tremulous smile grew on her face. _Oh Titan, we can do this whenever we want!_

“Woah, someone looks happy!” Luz’s voice interrupted her internal cheering, and she sat bolt upright, blushing. Luz smiled at her reaction. “Hey, don’t let me stop you. You looked really cute.” She lowered her tone on the last words, still a bit shy directly complimenting her like that.

The human was carrying a big bundle of blankets in her arms and distributed them out, one to Eda’s favourite chair, one to the end of the long couch Lilith liked to perch on, another she draped over King who shifted contentedly. The last and largest she kept in her arms until she plopped down next to Amity, crossing her legs up on the couch as she wiggled happily into place. She spread the blanket out over their laps, sitting snuggled next to each other. Relaxing against Luz, Amity found her hand under the cover and gently twined their fingers together.

Each carrying a tray, the Clawthorne sisters returned to the sight of the two girls sitting against each other on the couch, very obviously holding hands under the blanket and with an unmistakable look in their eyes. They shared an amused glance before moving over to them, Eda stifling a snort as the pair coloured a little and Lilith allowing herself an indulgent smile. Neither saw the need to say anything about it as they handed out a steaming cup to each of the girls. 

Resting back in her chair and taking a contented sip from her mug, Eda let out a sigh as she wrapped the blanket around herself. “Ahhh, that’s better. I haven’t had this in years, good idea Lily.”

The elder sister smiled over her mug, looking at the two younger girls as they gazed at their mugs and the steaming, light green liquid curiously. “An old brew I recalled from when we were little. It seemed appropriate.” She took a small sip, looking forward to savouring the half-forgotten taste – and promptly choked a little, sputtering as she half-inhaled the liquid. She gazed at her mug suspiciously before looking at Eda.

“Edalyn, did you-?”

“A little, and only in ours. Come on, loosen up a little.”

Lilith let out a sigh, before making an effort to let it go. She could unwind a little, for Eda. “Very well.” A playful little smirk grew on her face. “I suppose you could use the support after today.”

“Yeah, what _did_ happen today?” asked Luz, after downing what looked to be almost half her mug already, with Amity not far behind. “You two got into some sort of pickpocket contest?”

Eda bobbed her head back and forth. “Yes and no. That’s how it started – we dressed King up for the candy caper-“

“I’ll tell you later,” Luz whispered to Amity.

“-and started on our first mark. Like I said, Lily was a natural. Of course, she was no match for the Owl Lady herself!” She puffed up proudly, jabbing a thumb at herself. “While she was busy struggling to lift just one little trinket, I managed to get two off the same demon, without anyone noticing.”

“Mmhmm,” Lilith muttered into her mug, taking another slow sip, a bloom of colour appearing on her cheeks. “And then what happened, dear sister?”

Grumbling at the tone in Lilith’s voice, Eda continued. “Well, Lily here decided to turn it into a sort of competition. A competition which, by the way, I was winning!”

The former coven leader nodded sagely, before glancing back and forth between their bags of purloined booty. Looking at Luz and Amity, she asked, “Did you two notice the term _was_?”

Both couldn’t hold in a laugh at the quip, Luz surprised to see this playful side from the typically reserved Lilith.

“I _was_ winning,” said Eda as she glared at the lot of them, “until a certain cheater with _dyed hair_ -“

Lilith snorted, sputtering into her cup as she splashed herself.

“-decided to change the rules. Admit it Lily, we were plying the subtle art of taking without leaving a trace and you got carried away!”

Turning to the two witchlings to get them on her side, Lilith said “She was getting so boring to keep going with, so I decided to up the stakes with some… what did you call it Edalyn? Snatch and grab?”

“And you got the whole carnival chasing after us!” exclaimed Eda, waving a hand in the air, a flush on her cheeks now from her half-emptied mug. “Honestly, if it wasn’t for my quick thinking to get on to Owlbert and get the heck out of there…”

Amity and Luz quietly listened to the two sisters bicker back and forth for a little while, calmly sipping their mugs and simply enjoying the pleasure of the warmth, the brew, and each other. Eventually the two elder witches turned on them.

Eda cleared her throat. “Right. We figure you two are mostly impartial-ish, so tell us – who won? Me, because she broke the rules entirely?”

“Or me, because I stole more and she couldn’t keep up,” continued Lilith with a superior tone, privately amused at a phrase that she never thought she’d hear herself say.

The teenagers shared a glance, before Amity spoke up. “Please give the judges a moment to confer.” They turned away from the sisters and pressed their heads together, speaking quietly. “What do you think Luz?”

Luz grinned and squeezed her hand. “I think we should tell them it was a draw so we can go upstairs and I can show you my latest Azura fanfiction.” Amity couldn’t stifle a giggle at that, her twitching ears causing both sisters to raise an eyebrow. Luz continued, still speaking so they couldn’t be overheard, but more reluctant now. “But… it is getting pretty late. When do you have to get home?”

Amity’s spirits sank a little at the reminder of the reality outside of her bubble with Luz, but she kept a smile on her face. “Whenever I want actually. Emira offered to cover for me if I was out late – tell my parents I was at a sleepover or something.”

Luz gasped. “Oh my gosh that’s an amazing idea! Would you like to stay over here tonight?”

Amity coloured bright red at the question. _Yes, as a matter of fact I really, really would! That’s probably the best idea that anyone has ever had!_ “Um, yes please,” she managed to stammer out. “Are you sure that’s alright?”

By this point, the Clawthorne sisters were politely pretending that their students weren’t very obviously whispering sweet things to each other, despite how badly Eda wanted to stir them up a little. A very flat look from Lilith quickly quelled that urge, and the Owl Lady childishly stuck her tongue out at her sister, getting the same in return. Both started guiltily as Luz leapt to her feet, forgoing subtlety all together. 

“Okay, we’ll judge who was the winner on one condition!”

There was a long pause, before Eda suspiciously said, “Yeeeessss?”

“Amity gets to sleep over here tonight! It’s too late for her to get home.”

The elder witch relaxed. “Oh. That’s it? Sure kid, I was going to suggest the same anyway. I don’t really want to go out again, and the woods are no joke this time of night. Is that alright with you Amity? Your parents won’t mind?” 

Lilith stirred at the question, but Amity shook her head firmly, a hopeful smile on her face. “Not at all ma’am.” Eda blinked at her. “Sorry, I mean not at all Eda.” That got an approving nod. “They already know I might have been out late, or staying over at a friend’s house.”

Eda sat back, relaxing. “Well, there you have it. Alright, spit it out Luz. Tell Lily I’m the winner.”

“Well, actually…” The two girls shared a nod, both sporting amused grins. “We decided it would be a tie!”

Eda scowled. “What?” she said, at the same moment Lilith exclaimed, “A tie?”

Luz simply nodded. “Yep! You,” she pointed at Eda, “didn’t steal as much as Lilith! In terms of pure numbers I hate to say it Eda, but she’s got you beat.” Eda muttered darkly into her mug as Lilith smirked at her smugly. “But you,” she whirled, pointing at the elder Clawthorne, “changed the rules partway through, _almost_ earning a disqualification. Your extra points barely count! At the end of the day, the most fair verdict we can render is that it’s a draw!”

Amity nodded sagely by her side, her smile ruining her attempt at a serious look. “We deliberated deeply over the result.”

Luz couldn’t hold back a grin. “And our result is final!”

There was a long, pregnant pause before Eda and Lilith rounded on each other. 

“This is your fault for getting that whole dang mob to chase us!”

“They never would have caught me! Unlike some witches _Edalyn_ , I’m in great shape!”

“Was that a _fat joke?_ ”

Eda’s voice rose dangerously on the last two words, and Luz pulled Amity quietly to her feet. “Come on,” she said, as the two witches argued more and more vehemently. King rolled over on to his other side, grumbling as he put a pillow over his head. “Let’s sneak upstairs and get your bed ready while they keep going!”

The two young witches, clutching hands and giggling, quickly made their way upstairs. Despite their attempt at subtlety nothing they did was missed by the elder witches. After they’d vanished up the staircase, the arguing died down. 

Eda poured out another cup for both of them, the special brew made only for the adults in the house. Lilith quietly stirred hers with a spoon, looking vaguely uncomfortable. “Edalyn… I don’t want to spoil the mood, but are you sure it’s entirely appropriate for those two…?”

She trailed off, but Eda knew what she meant. They’d both seen them cuddling on the Ferris Wheel. Still, she was unconcerned and waved a hand dismissively. “Nahhh. I know what you mean and the thought did cross my mind, but they are good kids. They’ll cuddle up together, maybe figure some of their feelings out. If they’re lucky they might even smooch a little.” Lilith huffed out a laugh at that. “But that’ll be that. Trust me, I know Luz – she’s waaaaay too nervous for anything inappropriate.”

She stood and stretched her arms overhead. “Now how about you and I go get a refill and go through our haul?” She grinned and nudged over her sack of treasures with a foot, spilling shinies on the floor.

Lilith stood alongside her, a heady warmth coursing through her body. “That sounds like a lovely idea!”

* * *

Luz felt like she was floating as she pulled Amity up the stairs and down the hall, the other girl’s warm, firm grip on her hand like an anchor keeping her from flying up and away on a cloud of her own giddy happiness. She was afraid to let go, afraid to lose direct contact with Amity, scared that the moment she did the other girl might vanish and this might all turn out to be a dream, a childish fantasy. A squeeze of the hand and a glance over her shoulder quelled her worries – Amity was holding her just as tightly, smiling at her with red in her cheeks as she followed along. They passed by a few open doors, human junk and magical items spilling out of them. The house was even more of a mess than usual today with the bonetremors throwing things every which way. As they stepped around one pile teetering out of an open door Luz recalled with a surge of affection – _Great, now I’m getting sappy over a pile of junk! A pile of junk who is a very good boy_ – that it was where she found her newest and favourite t-shirt.

Reaching Luz’s room the two witchlings ducked inside. Amity almost paused at the threshold, thoughts of spending time with _Luz_ , in her _room_ , _hugging_ and maybe even _kissing_ roaring through her mind. _Okay Amity, you can do this. Just try to stay calm, and don’t think of having a sleepover. With Luz. Alone. In HER ROOM!_ Red crept down her neck, her blush growing. _Ahhh, bad thoughts bad thoughts! Come on Amity, just try and be cool! For once with Luz, try and be cool!_ Unbidden, a thought came to her speaking in Emira’s voice. _Stop overthinking._

Luz was just excited the night didn’t have to end just yet. “Aaaaand here we are! Welcome back to _mi casa_!” She released Amity’s hand to whirl on the spot, flinging her arms out.

It was just as Amity recalled. Half-melted candles here and there and a string of fairy lights hung from the rafters gave the room a cozy glow. The window on the far wall gave a great view of the surrounding woods and the lights of Bonesborough twinkling in the distance, even the waves crashing against the shores of the Titan. There was a chest overflowing with all kinds of colourful clothing, some books and schoolwork stacked in the corner, and here, there, and everywhere were discarded or half-drawn glyphs. The place was distinctly Luz; bright, happy, a little messy, but so comforting and welcoming. Amity’s thoughts however, were entirely unaware of this information.

They had seen the single bed lying in the centre of the room and had promptly poofed into smoke, her mind going off on a decidedly distracting track. 

Luz, blissfully unaware, quickly settled Amity back down. “Well first things first, let’s get a bed ready for you as well so if we get sleepy we don’t have to worry about it.”

“Yes a second bed is a good idea!” blurted out Amity, relief warring with vague disappointment on her face. _Come on Blight, keep it together. One thing at a time!_

After dropping off their Messtival prizes and slipping off their shoes for comfort, the teenagers moved about gathering up a pile of blankets and pillows for Amity. Eda almost compulsively collected spare bedding, always wanting something warm and fluffy within napping distance and they quickly had a couple of armfuls. They ignored the soft voices floating up the stairs, accompanied by the occasional cackle as one or the other of the elder witches found a particularly good shiny.

“Theeere we go!” Luz happily said, leading the way back to her room, blankets trailing along the floor from her arms. “Don’t you worry, soon you’ll have the cushiest bed on the Isles. I hope you’ll like it, you’re probably used to some super big, comfy one at your house.”

“It’s fine,” Amity said, a pile of pillows muffling her voice and almost obscuring her vision. “Seriously Luz, with this much bedding? I’m pretty sure I’ll be comfortable.”

The human looked back at her with another big, happy smile. Once back in Luz’s room they quickly set about fashioning a new bed, Amity following Luz’s instructions to make a cozy little sleeping nest. One that the human had without hesitation set up next to her own bed. She seemed to think nothing of it, but Amity could _not_ get the red off her cheeks and she was sure her ears were glowing crimson. _I wish you hadn’t been so clueless Luz, but I am so glad you are right now._

Finally set up, Luz threw herself down on her bed with a relaxed sigh. “Ahhhh, that’s better!” She noticed Amity more carefully sitting down on her own little nest, folding her legs demurely up under her dress. Luz’s words stuck in her throat for a moment as she saw the soft fairylight highlight the curve of Amity’s jaw, the golden warmth of her eyes. She swallowed thickly. “I’ve got some extra pyjamas you can wear when we get ready for bed if that’s okay?”

Amity smiled gratefully, a bit relieved. “Oh, thank you. This dress is pretty comfortable-“

“And super, _duper_ cute,” chimed in Luz, grinning widely.

Amity flushed darkly. “Um, thank you…” she smiled as she tucked a strand of loose hair behind her twitching, pointed ear. “Anyway, it’s comfortable but I wouldn’t want to sleep in it.” She sat up, leaning forward slightly with a smile. “So, what do you want to do now?”

The question hung heavily in the air between the two of them for a long, quiet moment. Amity, sitting cross legged and leaning forward. Luz, lying back on her bed, propping herself up on her elbows. There was a charge, a tension in the air at that question that neither of them could deny, and it caused Luz to sit up a little straighter, swallowing nervously. “Amity, I…”

“Yes Luz?” Amity asked, silently cursing herself for speaking so quickly. 

Luz sat fully up. “Do you, um…” _Ahhh, this felt so easy earlier! Why is this so hard now?!_ She glanced away, starting over. “Maybe we could…” _I want to kiss you Amity Blight! I want to hold you and kiss you so badly and I’m sick of our nice moments being ruined!_ She closed her eyes, struggling to get the words out, to ask, to force through this sudden tension over them… but just couldn’t quite say it. In a quieter voice, she said, “Can I show you that Azura fanfiction I mentioned?”

“Oh!” Amity was surprised. That had not been the question she was expecting – _hoping_ – that Luz would ask, and she couldn’t help but feel a delicate twisting in her stomach from nerves. Still, she didn’t want to hurt Luz’s feelings by sounding disappointed about reading her story. She tried to shove her disappointment aside and smiled at the other girl. “Sure! Where is it?”

Perking back up at Amity’s tone, Luz rolled over and reached over to a stack of books and papers. Carefully pulling a bound little manuscript from the pile, she held it up to show off the hand-drawn illustration on the cover – Azura and Hecate standing shoulder to shoulder against a faceless, shadowy enemy. “It’s not really finished yet, but I’d love to go through what I’ve got and see what you think? Maybe you could help me write the ending!”

Feeling a bit more comfortable on the familiar ground of her favourite series, Amity pulled a couple of pillows into a more comfortable pile and settled against them. “Sounds good to me! Do you want to put it down here so we can both read it?”

“Actually,” Luz began, awkwardly rubbing her hair. “If it’s okay with you, do you mind if I read it out loud? I’m always scared that I don’t get the tone right when I’m writing, and I know I can say it myself better.”

 _This may just be_ , thought Amity, _the cutest thing that anyone has ever done. She loves the same books as you. She writes her own stories for them. She_ drew _her own amazing cover for the story, and now she wants to_ READ _it to you? How does she not know how adorable she is!?_ “Okay,” she managed to squeak out, her heart clenching with hidden, barely suppressed affection.

Smiling happily, Luz pulled herself closer to Amity, settling the story in her lap. She opened the first page before hesitating. She glanced at Amity and then quickly leant down, placing a kiss on her cheek. “Thank you,” she said quietly. 

Amity’s mouth flapped and she said words back, she wasn’t entirely sure what. _Sure Luz no problem happy to do it you’re so pretty don’t mind at all feel free to kiss me whenever you are so pretty how much of this have I said out loud?_

A more confident look on her face, Luz launched into her story. Amity was a little guiltily surprised to find that it was actually written quite well, even if it did have a couple of errors here and there. The pacing was nice, the story arc was fun, and Luz was spot on with her characterisation. When the human had spoken of her best-selling misadventure with King, she’d always assumed the demon had more writing ability than he let on but apparently Luz was no slouch either.

Luz read aloud without a care in the world, smiling excitedly as she spoke higher and lower, louder and softer, painting the picture for Amity. The witchling made a wonderful audience, gazing up in admiration, sometimes closing her eyes to picture something more clearly and giving Luz an achingly clear look at her smooth, beautiful features. She laughed at the jokes, gasped at the surprises, and made Luz feel like lightning was dancing through her veins. She even began to purr again! At one point Lilith poked her head into the room, but she merely listened along for a moment before wishing the pair a good night. 

After hesitating over a word she’d only ever seen written down, Luz asked a question about pronunciation which led into a spirited debate of vocabulary, prompting a surprising discovery: Amity did an impression of Hecate that was pitch-perfect to what Luz had always envisioned.

Grasping the witchling’s hands, Luz bounced up and down in excitement. “Amity, you _have_ to read the rest along with me! You do such a perfect Hecate voice, it’d be a crime not to include you!”

Comforted and at ease after the time spent listening, Amity felt a surge of boldness. She smiled playfully and arched an eyebrow. “Okay, but it will cost you Noceda.”

Luz blinked, but caught on to the tone, grinning right back. “And what’s that Blight?”

Turning her head slightly, Amity reached up and gently tapped her cheek, looking away. Luz did not hesitate whatsoever, almost lunging forward to plant her lips on Amity’s cheek. She lingered longer than either had previously and when she pulled back Amity’s heart was racing.

“Okay,” she began, before clearing her throat after her voice cracked. Luz had to hold in a snort of laughter. “Okay, I’ll do it. Now, where were we?”

They got back into the story, speaking in tandem this time. Luz happily voiced the narrator and Azura, with Amity managing Hecate and an ever-growing list of background characters. To Luz’s surprised delight her date was a good impressionist. At one point they both fell over themselves laughing at Amity’s best attempt at a deep, gravelly male voice.

“You sounded like an angry puppy,” wheezed Luz, rocking back to laugh. Amity hid her face in a pillow, her shoulders shaking with mirth. Their impressions got more grandiose, beginning to include facial expressions and sweeping, magical gestures of their arms. Luz stood to better show off how Azura posed before her nemesis, and before they knew it both girls were standing and acting out each line, passing their book turned script back and forth and having the time of their lives. Luz had even taken out her hair clip and dug out the Azura hat she had swapped for earlier in the day, showing it off proudly.

Eda smiled softly as she peered through the gap in the doorway, passing by on her way to bed. She decided not to interrupt the pair and gently, silently pulled the door shut before moving off down the hall. Neither of them noticed, caught up in an intense discussion of how Azura’s more flashy magic could be adapted to modern casting practices. The Owl Lady let out an amused snort at hearing her apprentice’s muffled words echo down the hallway.

“I _know_ that most witches use spell circles, but wouldn’t it be cool if she just shot it from her eyes?” The only response was indignant sputtering.

Finally the two reached the end of Luz’s writing, turning the page to reveal blank paper. Amity was almost surprised – she’d gotten so caught up in things that she’d forgotten the story was unfinished. “We _have_ to keep going, we need an ending!”

Luz grinned in excitement with her hands hidden behind her, happy to have drawn Amity in. “I was hoping you’d say that! So I came prepared.” She revealed a pencil and some paper in each hand. “We’ll each write our own ending and then combine our notes to get the best one! Let’s do this!”

Amity, alight with literary fervour, grabbed the utensils off Luz and immediately got to work, lying down on her stomach to scribble away while her thoughts were fresh. Luz settled right next to her, leaning against her side slightly as they worked and both enjoying the warm contact. There was quiet save for the scratching of their pencils for a while, broken by the occasional mutter to themselves as they debated something or a question about this word or that. Eventually comparing what they had written, the two sprang back to their feet ready for the big finale.

There was excitement, loss, and an enormous, powerful spell that even Amity had to admit worked better without using a spell circle. Finally the evil enemy of Azura and Hecate lay defeated, and the two unlikely allies caught their breath. 

Luz turned to Amity, looking at her from under the brim of her hat. This was as far as they’d gotten in their short time writing, but it still felt… unfinished. Creativity surging through her Luz forged on, making up her lines on the spot. “We finally did it, Hecate. We’ve achieved peace for all the realms, and I couldn’t think of a better witch to have stand by my side.”

Amity looked at her curiously, before a crooked smile grew on her face and her fierce intelligence kicked in. She tossed her head proudly, arrogantly. “Of course you couldn’t, I’m the best there is!” Her expression softened as she reached out to place a hand on Luz’s shoulder. “Even if I had to associate with ‘the good witch’ to win.”

Luz laughed softly, eyes twinkling. She moved in to embrace Amity, wrapping her arms around the taller girl in a tender hug and resting her head on her shoulder. “I hope it wasn’t too terrible. Even a bad witch deserves a win sometimes.”

Amity’s arms automatically looped over Luz’s shoulders as her heart started thundering in her chest, her mouth dry. “I’m a bad witch, am I?”

Luz huffed out a laugh, pulling back slightly to look into Amity’s golden eyes. _Are we even in character anymore?_ “The worst.”

The both grinned, leaning in to press their foreheads together again as they flushed bright red. In that quiet, happy, uninterrupted moment they both leaned into each other and finally shared their first kiss. Luz felt hot, happy tears prick at the corners of her eyes and couldn’t seem to hold in a little smile. Amity simply melted into the embrace, feeling her limbs only distantly as she lingered for long, exquisite moments. 

They pulled back, still resting against each other. Amity was surprised to realise she could actually feel the gentle thud of Luz’s heartbeat, and wondered if the other girl could feel hers pounding just as rapidly. The human simply gazed at her with adoration, before grinning and very softly cheering, “We did it!” They’d finally had their moment!

Amity closed her eyes as she smiled broadly. Of course the human – _her_ human – had to make some dumb comment. She didn’t have it in her to be upset, her elation at finally, _finally_ being able to show the other girl how she felt was far too powerful. “The third time is charmed, I guess,” she finally let out with a giggle.

Luz hiccuped out a nervous laugh, tears beginning to spill from both of her big, brown eyes, but didn’t make a move to wipe them away. That would require taking her hands away from Amity’s waist, and there was no way she would consider that right now. Only one thing was on her mind, and she closed her eyes and leant forward to do it again.

Long minutes passed as the two stood there, gently holding each other and basking in their shared feelings. The Isles, the Owl House, everything outside the closed door across from them just… melted away as the two kissed again and again, neither quite able to articulate anything. Just wanting to be there, and to hold and be held, and have the other witch gaze at them with that look in their eye forever. 

Time caught back up to them as Luz found herself leaning back against the wall, Amity pressed against her with her head tucked into Luz’s neck. Luz’s hat lay on the floor to one side - she didn’t quite remember when it fell off. The human’s hand kept working through Amity’s green hair, fingers gently combing through as she traced small circles. Amity’s eyes were closed in contentment as her chest rumbled deeply, before she heard an amused sound come from Luz. “Hmm?”

“I’ve just realised,” said Luz, eyes closed and grinning. “We could have been doing that since Grom.”

Amity laughed gently, still a bit flushed at the idea. “I suppose we could have.” A spark of fear flared in her chest. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t do it again, right?”

Luz’s arms tightened around her, and her grin widened. “If I could keep my eyes open I’d be doing it again right now.”

Both girls laughed at that, but there was no denying it was beginning to get very late. The moon had already passed its zenith, and Amity’s golden eyes kept blinking tiredly shut. Slowly, reluctantly, she pulled back from the human. Her… her girlfriend, maybe? She felt her stomach clench at the thought. “Maybe we should get ready for bed.”

Luz nodded just as reluctantly, straightening up and stretching her arms overhead. “I guess so.” She stepped over to her clothes chest, pulling out a couple things she’d placed on top of the heap. “Here you go!” A big, baggy shirt with of all things a smiling _plátano_ on it, and a pair of comfortable shorts. “The bathroom is just down the hall if you want to get changed.” She looked around at their scattered papers and pencils. “I’ll tidy things up.”

“Okay.” Amity stepped through the doorway, lingering for a moment to watch Luz as she moved about, until the human looked up at her with a smile and a raised eyebrow. She flushed and quickly moved off. The bathroom was a perfect interruption to the adrenaline high of the night, a quiet couple of minutes for her to get changed, splash some water on her face and take a few deep breaths. Looking up at herself in the mirror, she couldn’t stop a tremulous smile. _You did it Blight. Look at you – washing up in the bathroom after a date with Luz. After reading her fanfiction, and acting it out. After… after making out with her!_ She clenched her eyes shut at that, threatening to burst with excitement. _And she wants to do this all again! Just go back there and ask when. Organise something, be prepared! And then you can go to bed. Next to Luz!_ She splashed more water on her face. _Stop overthinking!_

Finally she stepped back to her date’s room, and found that Luz had gotten changed herself. She was in her shorts and singlet, and the fairy lights and candles had been snuffed. A light orb floated in the centre of the room, casting a dim glow over their beds. Luz was lying on top of her sleeping bag, idly kicking her legs as she did something with her little light square – her human scroll thing. A fone?

Softly shutting the door behind her Amity settled down, placing her carefully folded dress off to one side. Her blanket nest was amazingly comfortable, and she found herself lying on her stomach with her head against Luz’s shoulder. Luz let her cheek rest against Amity’s hair and they shared a quiet moment as she shut off her device, putting it aside. The Blight closed her eyes and relaxed, feeling more at peace, more comfortable than she could ever remember being. The worry, the nagging, squirming ache of the past few weeks was behind her. She’d finally made her feelings clear to the human, finally come clean and let down her guard, and she’d been rewarded beyond what she had ever hoped. A first date that could only be described as magical – she silently grinned at the thought – and an evening spent talking, cuddling and _kissing_ with her new favourite person. And what’s more, she seemed to be fully welcomed here by everyone! Sure, the bird-tube was _difficult_ , but King was admittedly adorable, Lilith had always been at the very least friendly, and Eda had seemingly gone out of her way to make the youngest Blight feel welcome. Amity wasn’t a fool – she had seen a couple of the speculative looks Eda had given her and Luz and had concluded the experienced witch must have realised something was happening between them, but couldn’t bring herself to care. The Owl House accepted them. _Luz_ accepted _her._ The world was perfect and life was good.

Luz could _still_ feel her heart pounding. Not the rapid rhythm of earlier, but a softer, more definite pace. Having Amity here, _in her room_ , resting against her after everything that had happened was almost more than she could take. She wanted to reach out, to embrace the other witch all night, to wrap her arms around her and press their lips together, but was so scared to come on too strongly, to frighten her off. She’d never had anything like this, nothing even _close_ , and the tension, the _wanting_ was killing her. She couldn’t hold it in – subtle was not her style.

“Amity?”

Half asleep, Amity stirred slightly to show she was listening.

“Can I… hold you again?”

This time the Blight looked up, arching an eyebrow as she smiled at the human. “You don’t even have to ask, you dummy.”

Relief washing over her, she rolled on to her side to wrap the witch in a hug, Amity nestling in against her. Luz pulled one of her blankets up over the pair of them, already feeling her nerves settle a little. “Sorry. I’ve just never been with anyone like this before.” Her next words were a whisper. “I don’t really know what to do and I don’t want to mess this up.”

Oddly comforted to hear that Luz was just as nervous and excited as she was, Amity craned her neck up and placed a tender kiss on Luz’s lips. “Neither have I. We’ll figure it out.” She giggled, softly. “I’m sure a good witch and a bad witch can work.”

Luz’s arms squeezed her as she laughed and the human rolled gently over to lie on her back, Amity resting against her shoulder. “I don’t want to mess this up either Luz. I really like you... So let’s just figure it out as we go, okay? Take it slow and enjoy every moment.” She couldn’t hold it in. She had to ask. “Will you be my girlfriend?”

Luz’s voice was thick. “Okay.” It was obvious she was crying. Amity didn’t mind – she was too.

With the human’s heart beating steadily beneath her and her arm wrapped around the witchling’s shoulders, Amity let her eyes slide shut. 

Luz shifted gently and after a moment the light spell faded away. The gentle purring rumbling out from - from her new _girlfriend_ was so soothing. She pressed a gentle kiss to the crown of Amity’s head. “Good night, Amity.”

She smiled and wrapped an arm over Luz’s stomach. “Good night, girlfriend.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for coming on this journey with me.
> 
> I'd like to offer my sincerest gratitude to Raspbi for agreeing to collaborate with me and creating such wonderful illustrations, and to my beta readers who helped correct countless errors I would never have seen. My apologies for the delay on chapter posting, but it's my hope that the wait was worth it.
> 
> Please don't hesitate to leave a comment and I'll do my best to reply to you as soon as I can. It absolutely makes my day to hear what people thought of my writing. 
> 
> Finally the question that I'm sure is on a few people's minds - there is a Messtival sequel in the works. You'll have to wait and see for the details!


	4. Sequel out now!

The Messtival's sequel has begun being published! This work is now part of a series, please look at the next work in the series to begin reading The Witch, the Wolf and the Wilds!


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